The Devil May Care
by The Atomic Cafe
Summary: Sequel to Miasma. When Harry is living with Remus and Sirius, Voldemort is slowly regaining his followers, including Severus Snape. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**The Devil May Care**

**By Dimgwrthien**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series. I do own Danielle, however, and anyone you do not recognize.**_

_**Author's Notes: Woah, dudes. How many ways can I say I'm the happiest person in the universe right now? People demanded a sequel, favorited me, reviewed, put me on alerts, emailed me. Woah. I want to thank every last one of you. Wow.**_

_**Let me say, however, that I'll try my best to make this story a ton longer than the last. It's been my dream to write a proper novel-length story in fan fiction for a long time. Now I shall try it! Haha. The last story was Schnoogle length, and points if you know where Schnoogle stories are located. Just give me time. I'm having a dreadful year and I'm depressed. I need time to write a billion words.**_

_**The title? You ask. Ah. 'Devil-may-care' is a synonym for 'happy', it turns out, and I felt it worked. **_

Shock filled the room for seconds until Remus heard the sound of chairs scraping across the floor. Harry was standing in his doorway, looking matter-of-factly at them, holding one handle from a trunk in his hand. He was smiling widely at them.

"How -?" Remus asked weakly. He was still feeling ill still from the night before, and he knew that he would collapse rather soon if more of those things kept happening.

"Harry?" came a hoarse voice from over his shoulder. He saw the front of Sirius' face out of the corner of his eye. The gaunt face was wide-eyed with an open mouth.

Looking to Remus' side, Harry stared at Sirius for a moment, matching his expression perfectly. Remus quickly moved out of the doorway, about to get the two inside, but then Sirius' face broke into a wide smile, and Harry's eyes stared looking rather wet.

Remus remained silent as the two were there, Harry's arm around Sirius' thin shoulders, taking in deep breaths and with his eyes squeezed shut. Sirius looked just as close to tears; his arms wrapped around Harry, almost crushing the child's lungs, his smile wavering into tears.

Excusing himself, Remus went off to the table, leaning on it heavily for support. His mind reeled from everything that happened. When he turned back to the two reunited friends, he saw that Sirius was holding Harry by the shoulders, examining him. Harry had a keen expression on his face as though memorizing Sirius' face.

"You look just like James," Sirius whispered, smiling. Remus froze there, wondering what Harry would say. All three of them missed James and Lily, of course, but it was Harry who had gotten obsessive.

Harry said nothing however, but smiled back at Sirius. Then he turned to Remus and said, "Are you alright? You haven't said anything."

Remus just held up a hand and nodded. Sirius glanced over his shoulder, looking Remus up and down.

They two moved away from each other, walking back to Remus.

"I think this calls for tea and a talk," Remus sighed, walking to the stove and taking out the kettle. He quickly heated the water, filling three mugs. It had been so long since he had been able to use three mugs at the same time. He smiled to himself and joined the other two, who basked in front of the inviting fire, legs stretched out. Remus was amazed that the two had not known each other for a lifetime. They acted so similar, and looked just as similar.

He handed the mugs over to them, kneeling down next to Sirius. Sirius sat up normally and wrapped his long fingers around the mug, placing his face over the steam, smiling.

"It's freezing there," he whispered, eyes closed.

"Azkaban?" Harry asked quietly. Sirius' eyes snapped open and he gave Harry a quick glance.

"Yes," Remus answered for him. Sirius turned back to the fire, a strange look in his eyes, though Remus hoped it was from the fire's reflection in the gray orbs.

Harry started at Sirius, still, interest sparkling in his eyes. Sirius seemed to have noticed, for he wrapped a thin arm around Harry and pulled him closer.

When he sat there, looking indolent with Harry at his side, Sirius looked as he had years ago: young and confident, being himself as he spoke. Remus tried his best not to smile.

Harry murmured into Sirius' chest, "You know the full story, too, don't you?"

Sirius furrowed his brow, seeming to come out of his reverie. "What full story?" he asked, frowning.

"You know about my parents, too, like Remus does," Harry explained, giving the same look to Sirius as he had given to Remus. "You were their friend."

Sirius exchanged a look with Remus. Remus returned a small smile and touch of a nod.

"I did," he said slowly. He smiled as though savoring the memories. "We were all close friends, as I know Remus had to of told you."

Harry nodded. Sirius moved his arm slightly, inviting Remus closer to him, and, feeling as though he were a child rather than a grown man, Remus moved into Sirius' arm, staying close to the warm body.

Soothing relief came over Remus' aching body as he sat there, listening to Sirius talk about when they had been kids, all of their misadventures, while sipping at warm tea with Harry at the other side of his friend.

Sirius spoke sometimes as though he looked at Harry as if he were James, green eyes replaced with hazel, aged by twenty years. He left out gaping holes in the stories, as though expecting Harry to already know what happened. Remus filled them in quickly, as though reminding Sirius of whom he was talking to.

They never stirred until there was a knock at the door. Remus, rather curious, stood up and walked to the door, still holding his cup of tea in one hand.

For the second time that day, Danielle was standing behind the door, looking ragged with her green robes ripped slightly and tousled.

She fell into Remus' arms at once, speaking so rapidly that Remus felt she was speaking another language. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and forcing the teacup from his hand, falling to the floor with a loud tinkling sound as the glass flew apart around their feet.

"What happened?" Remus asked, feeling afraid of what she would say.

"I'm sorry!" she yelped, eyes wide. "It's just - we were all - well, it began - the truth is -"

"Take a deep breath," Remus commanded, and Danielle nodding, sucking in a large gulp of air and letting it out slowly. "Now explain everything slowly."

"Harry' here, right?" She did not wait for an answer, but continued, "His family - the Dursleys - had come back in, you know, because they were still worrying about the Death Eaters. We had to place Memory Charms on them and everything, and then they had been released again. A letter was being sent to Dumbledore to tell him, but then we got the news that there was another attack."

Remus knew that the worst had happened. His hands clenched convulsively at his sides.

Danielle buried her head in his chest. "It was by two people this time, by the sounds of it - Peter and Greyback." Remus knew that he had to be shaking, for she looked up. "I thought he was dead, too," Danielle choked, eyes red and teary. "And I've only heard of this Greyback. He sounds awful, though."

"He is," Remus whispered to himself, still trying to absorb the truth that sunk in too quickly.

"I'm sorry!" Danielle said again, biting her lip. Remus felt a hand on his shoulder and knew it was not Danielle's. When he turned his head slightly, Sirius' pale hand had him by the shoulder, tightly grabbing him.

"Another attack?" Sirius demanded of Danielle, who bobbed her head up and down. Her light hair was a mess and her lips looked chewed up from biting them. "By Pettigrew?" Danielle nodded again, making a faint whimpering noise.

Harry was next to Sirius, looking alarmed but trying to hide it. He gulped and opened his mouth slowly. "Does this mean I'm here until they're well again?"

"That's the thing," Danielle whimpered. "They - they died."

Sirius' hand tightened on Remus' shoulder as his free hand grabbed Harry.

"Dead?" Harry repeated hollowly. Remus glanced at him, still too shocked to speak. He knew that Harry hated the Dursleys, but the fact that they were dead had to have an effect on him. Sure enough, a deadened look caught in the boy's gaze as he turned, sitting at the table, hands neatly crossed in his lap.

"Come in," Sirius said softly to Danielle, who wiped her eyes with her torn sleeve and followed. Sirius had directed Remus to the table, hand still on his shoulder as he forced the brown haired friend into a chair.

"So I didn't kill him?" Remus asked, voice hoarse and rough to his own ears. Sirius gave him a sharp and curious glance.

"No, I guess not," Danielle said, crossing her arms on the table and resting her head on them. Her lips were wavering as she held back more tears. She took in another shuddering breath, tears falling freely from her blue eyes. "I'm so confused right now…"

Her shoulders shook now and her face rested in the crook of her arm. Remus awkwardly put a hand on her shoulder, gripping her tightly. Sirius watched Danielle with an almost angry look.

"You're Truman, aren't you?" he asked suddenly. She raised her head a bit and nodded, eyes a bright pink and face pale. "You loved… Peter, at school, I mean?" Again, she nodded. Remus saw Sirius tense slightly but ignored him.

"We have to find him," Harry cut in suddenly, the silence draining from the room as he stood up his chair was pushed back along the floor. "We have to catch him - both of them, really."

"No," Remus said, glancing at Harry. Danielle moved her head slightly, still wiping tears from her eyes quietly. "Not now, Harry. What are you thinking?"

"Voldemort is evil," Harry explained quickly, mouth moving rapidly as he fought his way from Sirius' grip. "We have to get rid of him. To get rid of him, we have to get rid of everyone trying to bring him back." His look was grim now, a look that should not have crossed the face of such a young child. "And it sounds like everyone is after me. I should be the one to get rid of them."

"No," Sirius said in the same tone that Remus had scolded Harry with. "You're not going out there to do anything yet. Dumbledore should be able to handle this for now."

"Am I too young to?" Harry asked, nose starting to wrinkle. "Tell me, is anyone else going to be able to do this?"

Sirius gave Remus a look, frowning. Remus closed his eyes for a second, still feeling a warm body under his hand. It was most likely true, he knew, and there was a chance that Dumbledore was right - it looked as though Voldemort could come back at any time.

'_But Harry's too young…'_

"This is confusing!" Danielle said loudly, suddenly, standing up so that Remus' hand slid down her before he had the chance to move it. "Will anyone explain what the hell has been happening for the last twenty years?"

"Ask Dumbledore," Sirius muttered sullenly, grimacing when he said the name. "He's keeping something from us."

"Snape," Harry said suddenly, standing stock still, eyes wide and unfocused.

"What?" Sirius asked, turning to Harry.

The young boy was shaking very slightly now. "Dumbledore had to have known something! He never said anything when he knew Snape was the one who -" He broke off, glancing at Remus. Remus knew that he still had to look dreadful. His muscles still screamed in pain every time he moved quickly and his ribs still felt broken.

"Snape was part of it?" Sirius snapped, head directing itself to Remus, a confused look in his eyes, mixed with danger.

"Yes," Remus muttered, biting his lip as he paused. "He was there."

"He did this to you?" Danger filled Sirius' voice and Remus knew that Snape, whoever he was, would be in trouble at some point.

"Yes," Remus repeated, not meeting his eyes. He could still feel the boiling hate, palpable in the air around Sirius. Sirius placed a firm hand on his own hand, which stretched out over the table.

"I'm going to deal with him t some point," Sirius said grimly.

Remus glanced up quickly. "No."

"What?"

"Don't." Remus sighed and looked at his hand, where a scar brushed down from his wrist to his knuckles. "He had to have known. Otherwise -" He trailed off, staring at his hands, twisting them together and still biting his lip.

"No," Sirius cut in. "He would have done something if he didn't know."

Harry frowned. "Forget arguing over whether he knew or not. Just ask him."

Danielle took a step back from the table. "Should I leave?" she asked, though no one seemed to pay her any mind.

"He had to have known. He said it himself - he trusts Severus." Remus glanced at Sirius, who was almost growling.

"Have you ever heard proof of that?"

"I know you hated him," Remus sighed. "And I know you still do hate him, Sirius, but you shouldn't base Dumbledore's judgment like that. He had to have known, and that's the end of it. He does not need to offer proof for every last thing he does."

"Has he ever said anything on it?" Sirius hissed, slamming a fist on the table. Danielle grabbed Harry's shoulders and pulled him back from the table, looking worried.

"Just let them fight it out," she whispered in the boy's ear. "It'll be alright."

"Do you trust him? He's trusting Severus, so that should be enough," Remus answered, fighting to keep his voice smooth, though anger was starting to weave into it. "You've been around him for years, that should be enough to trust him -"

"Did he ever make an effort to prove my innocence?" Sirius yelled back, face going slightly red and he seethed. Remus had never seen him so angry in his entire life. Fists clenched, Remus saw the hints of blood seep from his hands as his knuckled turned white.

"I thought you were guilty too!" Remus told Sirius, voice starting to rise. He felt hot in the face, too, and tried to force himself down, but part of him wanted to scream and yell.

Danielle tried to pull at Harry, but Harry remained there, watching the conversation.

Sirius was giving Remus a strange look, but still hollered back, "He was the only one who could have proved my innocence! But, no! He had to carry on and leave me in hell for years! You wouldn't have lasted even a week in there! You have no clue what I had to put up with!"

Remus clenched his jaw shut, and felt his jaw disk pop and he yelled out, "You think you had it that bad? I was he one left here, along, thinking my best friend killed everyone I loved!"

"YOU WEREN'T THERE! YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I WENT THROUGH!"

"You have no clue what I went through!" Remus yelled back, voice now out of control. "I was left all alone, having to tear myself into pieces every month because I blamed myself!"

"Nothing was your fault," Sirius hissed, face still reddening. "You had no part in it; we thought you were the traitor."

Remus took a deep breath, lowering his voice and feeling guilt in his stomach. "It was. If I haven't been a werewolf, Peter wouldn't have been an Animagus, and none of this could have happened."

Sirius sat down, looking down at the table, frowning. "No. We should have seen it in the first place. It wasn't your fault. Never was."

"Can we stop this?" Harry cut in angrily. "Why not just go to Dumbledore and talk with him! Nothing is going to happen until someone talks to him!"

Danielle nodded. "I'll get him on the Floo line, shall I?"

"You're not part of this!" Sirius yelled to Danielle, brow furrowed.

"She is," Remus told him. "I think she knew Peter better than any of us."

Danielle looked hesitant about staying, but gave Remus a faint smile before stalking off into the next room. There was the sound of a spell cast by the woman and her opening a pot.

"I've got him!" she yelled. Harry led the way where they saw Danielle's arm sticking through the fire still, and slowly, as she pulled back, Dumbledore's face appeared. Harry watched in amazement. It did look as though she were pulling him into the room slowly, though the others knew that Floo Powder only needed some part of the body to bring a person either way.

Dumbledore's head was floating in the fire, his bread looking as though it could have burned in the green flames.

"Why do you trust Snape?" Sirius snapped once he saw the old head.

Eyes grave, Dumbledore did not offer a quick explanation.

Remus gave Dumbledore a questioning look and kept his mouth shut.

"Severus was, indeed, in the service of the Dark Lord. However, he has given me proof that he is on our side."

"Then why did he do that to Remus?" Sirius growled, pointing to Remus. Remus did not mention that he was feeling better already, but remained silent and tried to catch onto what Dumbledore was going to say.

Dumbledore remained silent and gave Sirius a long look. Remus bit his lip and watched him carefully, still trying to see what he would say.

"I have my reasons," Dumbledore answered, hesitance in his voice that Remus had never heard before.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked shrewdly, a snarl playing around his mouth. Remus could see how much Sirius hated Dumbledore at that moment and had to agree with him for once.

"I am positive," Dumbledore replied, regaining his confidence. "Severus has given me his word on it and that is the end of the conversation."

Sirius sighed and shook his head. Danielle was still in the corner of the room, watching the conversation with interest.

"If he were on our side," Harry interrupted, "then would he have done that to Remus anyway?"

Dumbledore gave Remus an apologizing look. "Yes. I apologize for saying so, but I think Severus would. He would still have to act as though he were a Death Eater spying on me."

"How could he do that to Remus?" Danielle snapped from the back, voice still rather weak from crying. "Does he have any clue what that could have done to him if you didn't find him? He could very well have died! Bodies can't go through that much stress and be expected to function normally!"

Remus felt his face redden slightly out of embarrassment that he could hear the two talking about him as though he were not in the room.

"I understand, Ms. Truman," Dumbledore told her calmly, voice lining with annoyance. "I can see the damaging effects that will occur, but Severus knows that remaining our spy is important. I have issues to deal with now. Goodbye."

The head disappeared.

Remus sat down on the nearest chair, closing his eyes for a moment, frowning. He felt Sirius' weight sink next to him, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. Remus briefly mused on how Sirius seemed to touch him more often that before Azkaban, as though those years created a new yearning for human contact.

"I think he's angry," Remus said almost jokingly.

"I think he's lying," Harry said. Before Remus could interrupt, he told them, "He's not saying anything. I know he never says anything about it, but he was acting strange. Snape isn't with us. He's a traitor." Harry spat out the word like a curse.

"He has to be," Sirius agreed, hand tightening on Remus' shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Remus opened one eye to see that Sirius was talking to him. "Fine," he answered.

"I know that one transformation is bad enough for you, but…" He gulped. "You can't be feeling well."

"I've healed enough to go on," Remus answered. In truth, he felt as he did after only one transformation, but that was still bad enough.

Sirius moved his hand to Remus' neck, bringing his head onto the thin shoulder. Remus closed his eyes again, trying to rest.

"You had a charm placed on the house, didn't you?" Danielle asked. Sirius turned to look at her. Her hand hovered over the wall as she frowned. "I can tell that some spell was put up."

"Yes," Remus answered, still trying to sleep.

"I suggest putting it back up," Danielle told him grimly. "Whether with Dumbledore's help or not. I have a feeling you're going to be alone in this fight."

**_I hope this is to somebody's liking. I would like to take the time to thank everyone who read or reviewed Miasma. It was fun to write and seeing as so many people wanted more, I wrote this. Chapter two may be posted next weekend, depending on my schedule. I'm having a really dreadful year as I've said before, so don't expect me to do much. I'm overly depressed and stressed out. The whole mother load. _**

**_You are all so lovely to me! On Miasma alone, I have 58 reviews, 7419 hits, 4 c2s, 11 favorites, and 30 alerts! Woah! That's a huge deal to me! In my sister's words, I have "raped Harry Potter into oblivion". She thought that was a ton fo reviews. Yeah, say that to the million reviews that some stories have. I'm overly happy with this, however. Thank you all!_**

_**-Dimgwrthien**_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Devil May Care**

**By Dimgwrthien**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the Harry Potter series. Don't even ask. None of us do, unless you're Rowling and you're reading this, in which case, I think I could die very happily. (Hey, if you really are Rowling, leave a comment telling me and I will totally be screaming with joy.)**_

"We're alone," Harry repeated dully, sighing as he resting himself on the arm of Remus' chair. Remus moved slightly to let Harry swing up onto it as Danielle walked around the room a few times. "I think we're going to need you, Danielle."

She stopped and looked at Harry. "Sure," she replied, her voice choked up slightly.

"You're the only other person who knows what's going on and can help us." Harry swung his feet around, mouth to the side of his face, obviously thinking. "I think we should start now."

"No," Remus told him wearily, crossing his arms over his chest, trying not to aggravate his ribs more than they already were. He wondered whether Madam Pomfrey really managed to fix his ribs. "Harry, this is ridiculous. All we're going to do right now is make sure you're protected and that none of them can get to you. I think we're going to have to try Fidelius again." He glanced at Sirius. "Who will be the Secret Keeper, then?"

"I think I should," Sirius asked, looking suddenly stern. "I should have been last time. I think that if I did it, then nothing bad would happen again."

Remus stood up, feeling blood rush to his head, keeping his balance.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, grabbing his arm. Remus swayed on the spot. He leaned into the arm and tried to remain upright, pulse thumping painfully in his head. When he tried to look into Sirius' face, he found that everything was blurring again.

"I knew it wouldn't go away," Danielle snapped, taking Remus' other arm and directed him and Sirius back to the bedroom. "Severus, damn… he didn't listen, did he?"

"What happened?" Sirius sounded worries, Remus could tell, but the words seemed to come from a great distance.

"Wolfsbane poisoning," Danielle answered. "They were testing some sort of potion -"

"Testing one of his potions?" Sirius yelped, glaring at Remus. "Why would you do that?"

"It was made to control werewolves during the full moon," Danielle answered for Remus, distain in her voice. "Overdose of Wolfsbane in it and he had to come in twice because of it already."

"You forced me… the second time," Remus told her, closing his mouth again tightly as he felt more bile rise into his throat. Danielle seemed to have noticed.

"Bathroom," she corrected herself, steering him to the bathroom instead. Remus felt himself kneeled down on the cold floor, breathing heavily. "Don't worry; the more you vomit at this point, the better off you'll be."

"What?" Sirius asked angrily. "You can't say that to him!"

"It's true," Danielle snapped back. "It'll get it out of his system. Hang on, I'll be back soon. Let me see if I can find something to work." She twisted on the spot, disappearing from view as she Apparated away.

Remus felt more bile rise into his throat and found himself on the ground away, Sirius holding him upright as he emptied his stomach. Harry hovered awkwardly again, looking away.

"Should I do anything?"

"No, he'll be fine," Sirius said to Harry, still frowning. Remus heaved once more and stopped, leaning heavily on Sirius still.

"I'm alright," he answered before Harry had the chance to ask. Sirius took Remus' arms and pulled him back to lean on his chest. Remus remained there, unmoving. "I think we should try to put the charms up soon."

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked, looking at Remus as though he were insane. "You're ill and all you care about is the charms!"

"I care about your safety," Remus answered. However, there was a knock at the door before he could say more. Harry gave him another glance and ran out of the room, returning seconds later with Danielle.

She forced several vials into Sirius' arms then opened one, forcing Remus to drink it. He did and felt a rough potion slide over his tongue, gagging him.

"Swallow," she told him sternly. "I know it tastes dreadful. It works, though." Remus forced himself to swallow and felt his lungs ease up a bit. "Good boy." She rubbed his arm for a second, smiling nervously. Remus was tempted to tell her to stop treating him like a dog, but could not muster the energy. Harry was still near the door, not moving, watching Remus with a fearful expression.

"I'm fine, really," Remus told him, rubbing his throat. All of the potions he was ever forced to drink seemed to have clogged up his throat, ruining his voice. He knew that something bad had to have come out of them.

"You promised me you wouldn't die," Harry told him faintly, looking paler than Remus had ever seen him, causing the scar across his face to stand out. "You all promised."

"I'm not dead," Remus told him, untangling himself from Sirius' arms, standing up. Sirius was up a moment after him, still gripping his arm, making sure he did not fall again. "Harry, I promise you, I'll be fine like I always am."

"You're not as well now as you usually were," Sirius muttered in his ear.

Remus gave him a small look and spoke to Harry again. "Don't worry. I'll be back to normal by tomorrow."

Danielle, like Sirius, was giving him a doubtful look, but she did not mention it. "I think it would be a good time to start with spells. Remus, I'll understand perfectly well if you choose to kick me out and not tell me anything -"

"No," Remus told her quickly. "You're staying. Like you said, I doubt we're going to get Dumbledore to agree to anything. We're going to need everyone we can get, and that's you right now."

She smiled slightly. "Alright. Do you actually know the spell?"

Remus glanced at Sirius, who nodded. "I know it, at least," Sirius told them. "I guess that means I won't be able to be the Secret Keeper, then."

Biting her lip, Danielle squinted off into space for a moment, and then said, "Tell me how to do it. I'll try."

Sirius spent about ten minutes explaining everything to her, Danielle nodding as he spoke. Finally, the group of four moved outside, the cold air biting their bare skin.

Danielle pulled out her wand and started the spell. Remus remembered doing it once with Dumbledore already, and repeated everything the same, barely hearing the woman's voice over the whistling wind. A few flecks of snow drifted down from the clouds and Remus tried to ignore them, doing his best not to wipe them off of his nose as they fell.

Frowning slightly, Danielle lowered her wand as they finished the spell. "I think I did it all. Did I?"

Sirius nodded. Danielle sighed in relief and shivered slightly. "Let's head back inside. Sirius?"

Rubbing his arms to warm them up, Sirius told them the address and they entered moments later.

"You should really sleep some more," Sirius said to Remus.

Glaring, Remus answered back, "I've told you all, I'm fine. I don't need you to make sure I'm perfectly fine."

"None of us are mother henning you, Remus," Danielle told him, leaning against a wall. "But you do need to rest some more. If anything does happen, you're not going to be able to do much in that state."

Harry nodded his agreement.

Remus sighed and gave up. "Fine. If everyone wants it, I'll go back to sleep." When Sirius started to move his hand, Remus told him stubbornly, "I can make it myself. Really, I'm doing fine.

Sirius waved his hands around for a moment as though backing off and Remus left the room. When he was gone, the remaining three hovered around for a while.

"What happened that entire time?" Sirius asked Danielle and Harry. Harry glanced at Danielle.

"They were testing the potion, he was poisoned, and he started to get well again though I said that it would take some time for him to heal completely. Remus went on with everyday life, was caught by Death Eaters, by the sounds of it, and that's all I really know." She glanced back to Harry.

"They tortured him for a while," Harry whispered, looking rather frightened of even thinking back on it. "Snape was with them. When he got back - Dumbledore had found him when I told him where they were - he was hurt really bad. Dumbledore tried to explain it all to us."

"What did he say?" Sirius asked, looking pale and starting to shake.

"He said… he said that you and Peter and Snape knew the whole story. He said -" Harry paused, eyes wide.

"What?" both Danielle and Sirius asked.

"He said he was wrong for trusting Snape and that he was not really on our side…." Harry looked into Sirius' face. "What's happening? Is Dumbledore evil now?"

Sirius glanced at Danielle, who looked just as shaken by the news. "He has to be lying."

"I'm so lost," Danielle moaned.

"Is he being possessed?" Harry asked again, looking between them for an answer.

"I have no clue!" Sirius answered back, sounding worried and annoyed. "I don't think either Snape or Pettigrew are smart enough to get through Dumbledore like that…."

"Unless he was never Dumbledore to begin with," Harry told him, obviously trying to think of any explanation he could. "Maybe they replaced him with someone else or something!"

"I doubt it," Sirius answered, falling onto the chair, head in his hands.

"Lost," Danielle repeated, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I KNOW!" Sirius bellowed at her, brows furrowed as he glared at her. "You've said it enough!"

"No," Danielle corrected, "you're not listening to me -"

"You're lost," Harry muttered, crossing his arms.

Sighing, Danielle said, "Maybe we're not the lost ones. Maybe Dumbledore is."

"We already said that," Sirius snapped. "He's a lunatic and he's trying to kill us all!"

"No, no, no!" Danielle hissed, thinking frantically. "Maybe he thought Snape betrayed him at first, so that's why he said he wasn't on our side, and then Snape came back to our side with information or something that made him think otherwise, but Dumbledore has to hide it because no one can find out or else You-Know-Who could get through us and find out and kill Dumbledore's only source of information."

"How could he have done that to Remus, then?" Sirius asked. "Dumbledore wouldn't make Snape do that and almost kill Remus."

"Maybe he already knew where they would be so that he could save Remus before anything too bad happened."

"'Too bad'?" Sirius asked incredulously. "I think what happened to him is bad enough! He can barely stand by himself thanks to Severus Bloody Snape!"

"I know," Danielle sighed, sitting down across from Sirius. "But it's the best thing I can think of right now." She closed her eyes, leaning back on the chair. "Nothing else is coming to mind."

Blowing out a savage breath, Sirius muttered, "I know. That's the best any of us are going to be able to do."

Harry perches himself on the chair next to Sirius, leaning on the other man. "I think we should just take a break, forget everything for a moment, and go back to thinking afterwards," Harry told them in a tired voice. "It should work. Always does for me."

Danielle opened her eyes and leaned forward. "Good idea. If anyone is hungry, I can cook again."

"I'm starved," Sirius said as Harry nodded. Danielle, still looking rather nervous, walked into the next room where they could still see her as she cooked, hands shaking slightly.

Harry clasped his hands together, then pulled them apart quickly, plummeting one into the other. "Why does Dumbledore have to do this?" he asked loudly, sitting up straight and turning to Sirius. "Voldemort's strong, right? So why does Dumbledore have to leave us now?"

"He's not leaving us," Sirius answered. "He's just… not fully with us. I'm sure that by the end, we'll have him on our side."

"It's still going to be bad without him, though, isn't it?" Harry asked, sighing.

"Yes," Sirius admitted. He looked at Harry. "What did Snape do to Remus? I know he took him, but what happened there?" He seemed to only have noticed the scar on Harry's face. "What did they do to you?"

"I was hit by a spell that cut me," Harry told him nonchalantly. "I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey said the scarring should go away soon. Remus… he said he was burned by Snape, beat up a bit, and forced to transform." When he saw Sirius go deathly pale, Harry asked, "Is it bad on him? Really bad?"

"Yes," Sirius said, voice somewhat hoarse. "And so soon after the last one…. It'll take more than a bit of sleep to get over that one."

"When Dumbledore brought him back, he was in a bad shape, but he was healed well enough. Then Dumbledore showed him something in a box. I couldn't see what it was, but Remus started panicking afterwards."

"You didn't see it?" Sirius frowned. "Do you have any idea what it was?"

Harry shook his head. "He mentioned something about killing Pettigrew, though. That's all I know."

Sirius swept his long hair from his face, concentrating on a spot on the wall as though he could give him all of the answers. "He thought he killed Pettigrew? But if he was -" He stopped, hair dropping back into his face as he moved his hand back to the seat of the chair. "Snape! He was with Pettigrew, then! He has to be a Death Eater, then!"

As Sirius stood to move towards the fireplace and call up Dumbledore again, Harry grabbed his arm and Sirius stopped. "What? How do you know that?"

"Snape knew Pettigrew was at his house! He had been protecting him! All of these years…." He put on a terrifying expression, a snarl playing on his lips. "I knew that rat would be doing something like this, trying to get away and keep safe from us and his master -"

"We're keeping Dumbledore out of this, though," Harry reminded him. "Remember? Dumbledore will only tell us not to think about it and then he'll tell us to trust Snape."

Sirius sat down slowly and bit his lip. "Right."

Danielle walked back into the room. "If anyone wants anything to eat, it's on the table," she told them. She still looked rather nervous about everything going on and her hands looked somewhat burned as though she did not bother protecting her hands as she picked up the pans after heating them.

Sirius and Harry stood up and followed her into the next room. "I'll get Remus. He could do with some food, I think." Danielle left the room once more.

"She's acting weird," Harry pointed out, sitting down and picking up a fork, starting on the pie before him. Danielle's specialty seemed to be all types of pie.

Sirius was already eating and Harry decided that he could do with it. "True," he said after swallowing. "Women tend to act like that when they're lost. I mean she's said she's lost enough times."

Harry grinned. "She has."

Sirius matched his grin and mimicked Danielle. "'Oh, no! I'm so lost! Please help me remember what I was doing!'"

"She's nice, though," Harry told him calmly, starting to snort into his pie. "She's been around for a little while and she's done a ton."

Sirius got a dark look at the mention of her name and stopped his impression.

"What do you have against her?" Harry asked, frowning. When Sirius went to open his mouth, Danielle had returned, Remus next to her. He sat down next to Sirius as did Danielle.

Glaring at Danielle, Sirius passed a plate to Remus, dumping a large amount of pie onto it. He almost missed the plate from not looking, but Harry managed to move his arm before it spilt.

Remus looked between both of them. "What's going on?" he asked, voice weary and he crossed his arms across his thin chest.

Danielle blinked at Sirius, whose eyes still did not move from her face.

"What?" she asked him, frowning slightly.

Sirius growled out, "You know perfectly well what."

"No, no one but you does," Remus pointed out. Harry could see his brow furrowed and a small line starting between his eyebrows as he glared back at Sirius, clearly annoyed.

"She knows full well that she's still in league with Pettigrew."

Danielle's eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm not!" she yelled back at him. "I had no clue about any of this! I only found out about it today!"

Sirius made a derisive noise and continued to glare. "You've been helping him this entire time."

"Sirius, you can't say that," Remus told him calmly. "It would be a bit hypocritical. You hated everyone who thought you were with Voldemort" - Danielle shivered slightly - "and now you're saying she's with him and Peter."

"Take her side, then!" Sirius snorted, standing up and turning to Remus.

Danielle stood too, plummeting her fists against the table. "No!" she yelled back. "Don't even take this out on him! If you have a problem with me, tell me to my face!"

"I did!" Sirius retorted, his head snapping towards her.

"No -" Harry scolded, but his voice was carried out of their ears as Danielle started.

"I had no clue on anything! I would never help a Death Eater! If I knew when we were at school -" She growled, matching Sirius' snarl.

"STOP!" Harry yelled over their continued bickering. Everyone looked at him. "We've all agreed that we're the only ones who know the truth! If we don't all stick together, everything is going to go downhill and Voldemort will be in control of the Wizarding World! Just stop arguing and get along!"

Sirius' expression slowly sunk back to normal. "I - I… sorry," he muttered to Danielle, still giving her a sour look. She nodded and muttered something that no one could understand and sank back into her chair.

"We don't have anyone else," Harry repeated more to himself than the others. "We're all alone from here on out."

_**Again, thanks to everyone for the reviews! They really make my day! It's been a better turn out than Miasma when it first started. I'm so proud!**_

_**Mikee: Remus was referring to Peter when he said the killing quote. Remember, in Miasma, he thought he killed Peter. I had only just remembered Snape was one of your favorites then…. Oops. Sorry. Hope you don't mind. Maybe I'll write another fan fiction to make it up for you. Sorry. It looks like Harry will be with our dearest Marauders now. Isn't it great?**_

_**A Teenage Werewolf: First off, I'm glad I wrote a sequel, too. It's been fun! Second off, the plot is a bit too much fun to me. Tehe. Slacking off of homework does this to me. Schnoogle, you guessed right, are from Schnoogle, duh. It's a part of Fiction Alley Park. The 40? Hm. Sounds familiar. I'll have to check into that. School sucks big time. Meh.**_

_**Elizabeth Theresa: What a pretty name! I'm glad you like my style. I used to try to write in a style where everyone thinks because I bring up all of these important things, but I sucked at it, so I tried humor, which also sucked, and then I came to this. Thanks for the compliments!**_

_**Maya100: Dumbledore's just getting old. I mean, he's… er… to be trusted. Eh, just go with whatever you want. As much as I love Dumbledore, he has to be going crazy. **_

**_- Dimgwrthien_**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Devil May Care**

**By Dimgwrthien**

_**Disclaimer: I am making no money off of this story. If I were, you would be paying me twenty dollars right now. Along those lines, I do not own the characters (except for Danielle) or the settings. Don't sue me.**_

**_Notes: No matter how much I try, I can't get the sections to seperate. Sorry about that._**

As it turned out, the Founders of Hogwarts must have had a dreadful life as placing protective spells around the house ended up taking more time and effort than anyone thought possible. As soon as Sirius and Remus managed to place one spell up, Danielle and Harry managed to think of some new way to get to Harry and Sirius and Remus would exchange looks before getting up to place another set of spells around.

"This is taking forever," Harry muttered at the table, head in his hands. "Isn't there one spell to protect the entire place?"

"I wish," Sirius answered darkly, sitting down as Remus followed, glancing at the walls as though looking for a place he missed.

"Someone could blow up the wall, climb in through the ceiling that would have been knocked out, then go through the square inch that's not protected in the kitchen," Danielle told Remus, smiling slightly.

"This is important," Sirius told her, glancing over at Danielle.

Danielle threw him a sarcastic look and sighed. "I know. You were just looking for everything possible, and that's possible."

"No, it's not," Remus told her miserably, resting his head on his arms at the table across from Harry. "The walls can't be thrown out. Made sure of that a moment ago."

Sirius nodded in agreement.

"This is going to be hard without Dumbledore," Danielle muttered, sighing and resting her chin on a hand. "I mean, we can only do so much. And if You-Know-Who is really after Harry, I bet he could get past all of these things easily."

"It may be true, but we have to work around that," Harry told her. He picked his wand out of his pocket and placed it in the center of the table. "I suppose I can't use that anymore," he sighed, glancing at Remus, whose eyes were shadowed with exhaustion from lack of sleep as he spent nights trying to fix up the spells. "Dumbledore managed to get the Ministry to let me use it, and now that he's convinced I'm safe…." He trailed off, giving the wand a doleful look. Sirius reached out and took the wand, shoving it roughly back to Harry.

"You're keeping it, even if we have to fight the Ministry with our bare hands. You're in danger and you need to protect yourself." He glanced at the other two adults. "We're not going to be around forever."

Danielle glanced sharply at Remus, who remained silent and merely closing his eyes, almost dozing off. He opened them before he could, however, and reached out a hand to grab Harry's shoulder. "We're going to be around you for a long time, Harry. Keep that in mind."

Harry nodded slightly, pocketing the wand again. He seemed unable to speak now and his eyes were unusually wet.

Remus half-heartedly waved his wand once more, trying to fix up the last spell on the walls, glancing over the room. If he ran a hand around the walls long enough, he found, he was able to trace back where the spells were and strengthen them, making sure they covered everything.

"It's late," came a voice in his ear, close, hot breath on his neck. Remus jumped.

"Sirius," he muttered, lowering his wand again, taking in a deep breath. "Sorry. Didn't think anyone was awake."

"No one should be awake at two in the morning," Sirius told him gently, taking hold of Remus' arm and pulling him to the chairs were he collapsed gratefully. Sirius pulled up his own chair right behind his friend, letting Remus drop his head onto Sirius' chest.

"What have you been doing that you can't do during the day?" Sirius asked Remus, frowning and pushing the light brown hair from Remus' eyes. "You can't stay up for too long in this condition."

Remus did not move, but answered, eyes closed, "I'm fine, Sirius. I don't need you to watch over me so much."

"I think you do," Sirius answered.

Remus considered yelling at Sirius here, but his eyes were already shaking under their lids, forcing him to start to sleep.

"Come on," Sirius murmured in his ear, taking Remus' shoulder and dragging him towards the bedroom. Danielle had left hours before, heading home, and Harry was in his usual room. Remus saw that it left Sirius in his room. "I can turn into Padfoot if you want."

"No," Remus answered, voice slurring as he climbed into the bed and moved over to one half. "I miss you."

Sirius climbed into the bed with him and draped one arm over Remus, eyes still open and reflecting a light coming from outside.

"I've missed you, too."

Neither spoke again. Remus moved himself into the comforting warmth that he had not experienced for years, breathing in Sirius and knowing that, once more, he was there.

Eight years of separation could do that to a person.

Remus was aware of waking once he heard footsteps outside as usual. He opened his eyes, peering at the shadows around his doorway and seeing Harry's head peek around the door.

"Am - am I -?" Harry stuttered out, eyes wide. Remus glanced and saw that a half-naked Sirius was next to him, one arm draping over the edge of the bed.

Remus quickly moved away from Sirius, sitting up in the bed, getting out. He was suddenly glad that he had no time to undress before falling asleep.

"Sorry," he said to Harry, feeling his face burn slightly. Harry stared at him for a second before staring at the ground, blushing himself.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "It's just that - I - I had a nightmare."

Remus glanced out the window and saw that it was still somewhat dark, the sun not even close to rising from behind the trees.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and motioning for Harry to come towards him, Remus asked, "What happened?"

He did not know how to deal with children in that way. The closest he had even gotten to a child and meeting cousins and the like, but that had been years ago. He remembered that, whenever he had a nightmare, his parents would ask him what happened and try to convince him that it was not real and could never happen.

"I saw people dying," Harry said quietly, rocking in Remus' arms. "All of you, being killed."

"By whom?" Remus asked him, not sure of how to say that it was not true. He knew that they would die at some point in Harry's life, but he wanted to reassure him, not scare him.

"It was Snape." Harry's eyes were still downcast and he was shaking very slightly. Remus cradled the boy to his chest, resting his chin on the unruly hair. Harry seemed to find this calming, for his shaking stopped and he started breathing easier.

"Why was Severus killing us?" Remus asked. Harry's dreams did not seem abstract like a normal child's with monsters lurking under his bed.

"He - he seemed angry. Mainly with you. Was shouting about how you all refused to give me to him. And then there was green and you were all dead."

Remus froze, not even daring to blink. Harry could not know that Severus tried to force Harry from him. There was no way Harry could have figured that out….

When he finally spoke, Remus whispered, "Harry, did the dream seem real?"

Harry nodded, moving deeper into Remus' arms, curling himself into a small ball.

"You should try to sleep some more," Remus told him, trying to fight shock from his voice. He let Harry crawl out of his arms onto the bed next to Sirius, where the boy's eyes closed as soon as his head hit the pillow and he drifted into sleep.

"Sirius?" Remus hissed to the sleeping man. Sirius grumbled a bit and refused to move. Remus prodded him in the back sharply, waiting until Sirius sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his pale hands.

"What is it?" he asked, yawning and blinking at Remus.

"Harry had a nightmare. No, listen," Remus hissed as quietly as possible when Sirius made to sleep again. "It had Snape. And it appears real to him. Do you think anything could be going on?"

"No," Sirius mumbled, yawning again. "I think it's a dream and you should let me sleep. I haven't slept in a bed in years."

"I think something may be going on -" Remus started.

"No, nothing is. You're just being crazy and making things up. You haven't slept in a while, either. Just go back to sleep and you can think clearly later."

When Remus opened his mouth to retort, he found that Sirius was already asleep.

When Remus woke up again, he found that Sirius and Harry had both left the bed already and that he was in an awkward position at the end of the bed, horizontal with his legs and arms off the bed. A blanket had been placed on him in a hurry, he could see, and he wrestled it off, almost tripping on the trailing end.

He walked out to the kitchen to find Sirius and Harry at the table, picking uncertainly at their plates.

"Sirius tried to make breakfast," Harry informed Remus, frowning and prodding something that looked hard and white.

"I haven't had the chance to cook in years," Sirius told him, frowning. "It's not my fault."

"You could have woken me up for help." Remus frowned with Harry and sat down. Sirius reached to the center of the table, pulling the last plate towards Remus.

"Should still be warm. You hadn't slept most of the night, so I thought it wouldn't be good to wake you. I remember how you were at school." Sirius smiled mischievously.

"What happened?" Harry asked quickly, head perking up and watching the two with hope.

"Every time we tried to wake Remus, he would just sleep through everything." Remus frowned but Sirius continued, throwing him a mocking look. "We could pour water on him, use charms, anything. He could sleep like the dead back then."

Remus stabbed his fork into what appeared to be an egg, only to find the yolk split in half and remain in solid pieces. He moved them around the plate before dropping his fork.

"I'm refusing to eat it, too," Harry whispered out of the corner of his mouth, glancing at Remus. Smiling, Remus made to stand up.

"That's cold," Sirius muttered, pushing his own plate to the center of the table. Just then, a knock came from the door.

Remus stood up, leaving the room and opening the door. Only one person would be able to find it.

Danielle was at the door, wet hair plastered to her forehead. Remus glanced up and saw that it was snowing heavily, the drops of frozen water hitting her heat and melting slowly.

"It's bloody cold out," she told him, shivering. Remus stood aside and let her in. "Sorry to intrude this early. I just have another day off before tomorrow and wanted to know if anyone needed anything. It isn't smart for you three to go outside when the Death Eaters can identify all of you."

Remus only just thought about this side of the needing Fidelius and frowned. "I don't think so. Come in. You're soaking."

Danielle shook herself once, shivering a bit more and glancing at Remus. He glanced over to where Sirius and Harry were, trying to tell her where to go. She followed him, still, taking off her outer robes as she did so.

"Only about four weeks until Christmas," she told them happily, sitting in the chair Remus pulled out for her. Harry smiled.

"This'll be the best one ever." Harry suddenly looked much more like a child, cheeks shining red and eyes glowing at the though.

Remus considered the amount of time Harry had been there. It had been a month ago that Harry had been taken by him from the Dursleys. Now, already the first of December, he knew that his own Christmas would be brightened up much more than the past few. Sirius and Harry there with him had to make a huge difference.

"What're you all going to be doing?" Danielle asked, distractedly rubbing her hands together.

Remus glanced at Sirius and Harry, who shrugged. "Nothing, really, I suppose," Sirius answered, frowning. "I don't think any of us thought anything about what we're going to do."

Danielle nodded. "I'll be stuck with family again." She smiled secretively. "They'll kick me out in a few minutes. I'm too annoying to stand for long."

"You're always saying that," Remus told her, crossing his arms. "We haven't kicked you out for being annoying yet."

"I don't like them," she muttered, crossing her legs. "They annoy me, so I try to get out of going."

"You could just turn them down," Sirius snapped.

Smiling again as though hiding a special secret, she answered, "I like watching their faces."

"You have problems." Sirius leaned back in his chair, glancing upwards at Remus' face. "Sit down. I hate it when you do that."

"Do what?" Remus turned to Sirius, a bit shocked when he remembered someone else was in the room.

"Hover."

Sitting down, Remus spoke to Danielle again. "You can come by here on Christmas afterwards, if you want."

"Maybe," she answered, smiling. "Thanks. I may end up having to work part of the day."

"Stop doing that," Sirius muttered, glaring at Danielle, who turned to him, confused.

"What?"

"I think you're the one who hasn't slept," Remus told Sirius from behind him. "You're getting angry at everyone."

"I hate when you smile at Remus like that."

"How?"

"You - you fancy him," Sirius accused, outwardly glaring.

Danielle burst into streams of laughter, snorting every few seconds in her laughs. When she calmed down enough, she told him, still grinning, "Is that why you hate me?"

Harry was watching everything with confusion. "Why do you think that, Sirius?"

"You keep watching him and come over every second you have." Sirius' grey eyes were narrowed and fixed on Danielle's.

Still giggling slightly, Danielle answered, "I don't." Sobering up rather quickly, she added, "He may be gone, but I'm still thinking about Peter." Once she caught sight of his expression, she hastily said, "I don't love him anymore, but I spent the best years of my life with him. Don't give me that look! You didn't have a clue, either! If you had been dating him, you would have been just as shocked! You were his friend!"

Sirius refused to answer that, but instead pointed out, "You're making sheep's eyes at him."

Danielle snorted once more. "I have no fancy for Remus." Glancing at Remus, she said to him, "No offence. You're a wonderful friend, but that way… no thanks." She smiled. "And that was not sexual," she added to Sirius. "I don't feel anything towards you either."

Sirius seemed considerably cheered up by this and went on, still trying to avoid Danielle, but acting more civil to her when needed.

"What are you all going to do about the Death Eaters?" Danielle asked, leaning forward, elbows on the table.

"We've already done it," Sirius answered, picking up the old dishes and turning towards the kitchen. "They're enough spells around this place to last a hundred raids."

"Not quite," Remus admitted. "But it would take long enough for them to get around them that we would have decent warning."

"I say you're going to have to worry about that Snape man," Danielle told them darkly, brow furrowed. "He seems like the biggest threat. By the sounds of it, You-Know-Who is mostly dead, at least weak, if not completely weak. The other Death Eaters were listening to him, though, weren't they?" she asked Remus.

He nodded, face darkening. "They did everything he said the second it was out of his mouth."

"You look better," Danielle told him after a moment's pause. She was inspecting Remus' slightly haggard face for a moment. "You'll be well soon."

"I'm fine now," he answered, feeling annoyed again. "I still have a while."

"Twelve days," Danielle reminded him quietly. "That's not the point though. He put you through plenty."

Sirius, who entered the room again, furrowed brow. "I don't think Remus wants to bring it up."

Danielle nodded and stood up. "I need to go anyway." Without another word, she Apparated out of the room.

"We're going to need to strengthen the Apparation spells," Remus sighed.

_**You all spoil me too much. I feel way too loved every time I get online and see several new messages. I mean, before Miasma, I had never gotten more than five reviews on anything I've ever written, and I was criticized for so many stories. Now? Two hundred and twenty reviews on this site alone. Fifteen C2 groups. Fifty-one favorites. Fifty-three alerts. Is this a good time to faint? I would sit here and thank every last person individually. In fact, I think I will. Well, not right now, but one of these days, I'm going to sit right down and e-mail and thank every last person. If you get an email from crazy old me, feel free to throw a shoe at me or scream for me to never speak to you again. I get that rather often. Only about four hundred people to thank, but some send in many reviews, so about three hundred and fifty. Cool.**_

_**My shift key is broken, in other news. Sorry for the errors. I can speak Spanish now, however.**_

_**Hey, I have a rather interesting project idea. I want everyone who feels like it and isn't busy throwing old shoes at me to do this tiny favor. My teacher hates my writing with a sickening passion. I'm just curious now, how old do you think I am judging by my writing? I'm younger than the rest of the class, and I want someone to guess.**_

_**Next chapter, I have an important question to ask you all, too, involving a novel-length plot for National Novel Writing Month. Bwaha.**_

_**- Dimgwrthien the Loved One**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series or affiliates. The only thing in this story that belongs to me is Danielle, and that is because she is my lovely brainchild. **_

_**Author's Notes: For the curious, after the question I asked in the last chapter about my age, I'm thirteen. You guys really do make my ego grow a bit too large. (Or else you're saying I'm old.) Sheesh. My teachers are going to find out about people actually accepting my writing.**_

Christmas drew closer as the new group of three spent all of their time together. None of them really needed to leave the house except for Remus, who was continuing the tutoring. It was the only time at which any of them spoke to Dumbledore, and still then, Remus knew that he had to keep their secret, even from the most trust-worthy man he had ever met.

"Of course, Headmaster," Remus always answered when Dumbledore asked for him to tutor a student who was falling behind, then he would appear, nodding to Dumbledore, who nodded back, and going on to the student.

Most of the students seem to not realize Remus' condition, or else did not acknowledge it. Usually, the student would go on treating him like the rest of their teachers. Several appeared to treat him normally, but he found that they watched him closely whenever their back was turned, giving small glances in the act was sweeping back their hair.

Remus found himself only minding their attitudes when the occasional student would start talking about werewolves and how so many of their relatives were killed by one or the horror stories they heard. What Remus found the worst, however, was when they started asking about it.

"What's it like, transforming?" One boy asked, perched on a desk, polishing his wand almost absent-mindedly and watching Remus with interest as one would with a specimen.

Taking in a long breath, Remus would just reply, "We should be working on the next spell" or "That's of a personal matter. Now, where were we?"

While Remus left them, Sirius and Harry found themselves trying to entertain themselves. Sirius found being free to be wonderful and Harry often woke to find Remus gone and Sirius standing outside, still in his night clothes, staring up at the sky, admiring the sun, not moving until Harry gently pulled at his arm, forcing his godfather inside.

Harry found Sirius to be just as wonderful as Sirius found the sun. Sirius was still in the state of mind he was in just a bit after Harry was born. Though the man looked aged beyond his years, just as Remus seemed, he acted like a teenager. Harry could ask anything he wanted and Sirius would answer, humor dropped in so wonderfully that his stories seemed like figments of his imagination, made to make Harry pleased.

With the Dursleys, Harry told Sirius once, several hours before Remus was due back, he had never had so much fun. He had never really smiled and meant it. With Sirius and Remus, however, his world seemed the exact opposite.

Sirius' face brightened at the compliment. "Harry, I think both of us can say that we're just as happy to have you here."

"I don't even want to go to Hogwarts," Harry said to Sirius, fiddling with the cards in his hands as he and Sirius played Exploding Snap. "This is better."

Eyes looking suddenly misty, Sirius said to himself rather than Harry, "Hogwarts had the best years of my life."

"I don't want to leave you two, though," Harry muttered. He placed down a card in front of them, waiting for Sirius to place down the right card after. When Harry could not find the next card in his hand, he felt a popping against his hand and smelled smoke in the air as his cards blew up in his face.

Sirius coughed. "They need a way to clear the air after playing this game!"

Harry sniffed the air and cringed. "I don't think Remus is going to be pleased," he told Sirius, coughing along with the older man.

"I remember playing this with Remus and my cousin, Andromeda, over the summers," Sirius said to Harry, waving his hands to clear the smoke away. It drifted slowly from around the table to join the fumes around the house from their game. "I think Andromeda's daughter is, ah, sixteen now?" He glanced around as though trying to see the answers in the walls. "I think so. I remember Andromeda giving her some dreadful name."

"Like what?"

Sirius took a deep breath as he thought, which appeared to be a bad idea as he coughed again. When he managed to breath normally once more, he said, "Something like Nymphadora."

Harry smiled. "What'd she name her that?"

"As if I have a clue," Sirius answered. "Personally, I'm still surprised her husband let her name the daughter that. He was muggle-born," he explained to Harry in response to the confused look the boy was giving him. "And I think the daughter had some interesting power. Yeah." He started laughing. "She was a Meta - well, she could change her looks at will," he said hastily as he guessed Harry would have clue as to what he said. "She was about seven the last time I saw her and her mother seemed angry. She was changing her hair every few seconds, mainly pink and purple, and making her eyes the same. And when she tried to grow -" He broke off. "You're still too young to hear that story," he muttered, taking out another set of cards.

Remus, meanwhile, was having trouble with the said Metamorphagus. Nymphadora was standing at the doorway, a bag slung over her shoulder. At the moment, her hair was dark blue and reached her waist, straight all the way down. Her eyes were just as bright a blue.

"Remus?" she asked.

"Hello, Nymphadora," he greeted, standing up.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" she said to him, running towards him and giving him a hug. The sixteen year old grinned up into his face, a good foot shorter than him. Squinting suddenly, she was matching him in height, staring him in the eyes.

Remus smiled back. She looked grown up compared to the last time he had seen her, which had been when she was only about seven years old. She seemed to have chosen to leave her hair in a somewhat sensible style, the only thing strange about it being the blue sheen to it.

"The teachers make me keep it normal," she sighed, obviously noting Remus' gaze at her hair. "It was black when I came in, but I doubt you'll tell them." She gave him a mock pleading look.

"Of course not." He pulled out his wand. "I think we should get started with this, first, however. I believe you're needing help in -"

"Nothing," she said. "I'm perfectly fine at Potions. It's just the teacher. I don't like Professor Slughorn too much."

"They replaced Snape?" Remus asked himself, then remembered that they would need a new teacher. "Slughorn? He taught me. Dumbledore got him back?"

"Apparently," Nymphadora shrugged. "He has his favorites and doesn't care much for the rest of us." Remus nodded. She continued, "But, in Charms, we learned this new spell, I think I have it down, here-" Once she waved her wand, she paused and muttered, "Oh, it's not suppose to do that."

Remus glanced at where he was staring and saw the swarm of hornets aiming towards them, only able to get his wand up in time.

Back where Sirius and Harry were picking through the bottom of a new Honeydukes bag, Sirius seemed to invent a new game. He took three chocolate frogs and immobilized them, setting all in front of Harry.

Placing a spell on all three of them that made them glow green for a second and then go back to normal, Sirius tapped his wand again, causing them to shuffle themselves rapidly as he moved his wand. Harry watched in amusement.

"Pick one," Sirius told Harry. Harry reached out and took the middle one, biting it. The second it touched his tongue, he gagged again.

"New game," Sirius told him proudly. "Made in seventy-nine by me. Charming the chocolate frogs to have different tastes."

Harry wiped his tongue off with a piece of a licorice wand, then biting the wand in half, chewing it. "Why did you make that?" he asked incredulously, trying to rid the flavor from his mouth.

"Boredom," Sirius answered truthfully.

The door opened for the first time that day, breaking the following silence. Remus walked into the room next to them, falling onto the nearest chair and not speaking.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, getting up to walk to Remus and place his hands on the man's shoulders, rubbing them.

"Nymphadora Tonks, I believe," he answered miserably. "Honestly. Haven't the teachers managed to convince the students that trying out spells they still don't understand was a bad thing to do, mainly in a small classroom?"

"What spell?"

"I have no clue what she was trying to do, but she managed to conjure plenty of hornets." He rubbed his arm absent-mindedly.

Sirius peeled away at Remus' robes, glancing at the arm underneath. Harry saw the pattern of scars over the pale arm but did not really register it; it seemed only natural that they would be there. Sirius was inspecting the red blotch around his arm.

"Managed to get it healed by Madam Pomfrey," Remus told him, still frowning. "That'll be there for a while to teach me that I should never mix with your kin."

Sirius pulled the sleeve roughly down the thin arm again, letting Remus move his arm freely. He continued rubbing it for a minute. "What did you two do today?"

"Sirius tried to kill me," Harry muttered.

Glancing at the chocolate frogs still on the table, Remus smiled. "He tried the flavor-changing frogs on you, did he?" When Harry nodded, Remus whispered, "He always charms them to all taste dreadful. Trust me."

"I think I would have more sense than to do that to Harry!" Sirius told him, frowning and looking offended. Remus raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I did," he muttered. Harry took on an offended look but did not comment.

Remus took a large folder from a bag he had been carrying, setting it on the table. He put his forehead in one hand, poring over the parchment inside, stopping the conversation. Sirius watched him for another moment before taking out a box of Every Flavor Beans and digging through them.

"What flavor did my Dad like?" Harry asked Sirius quietly, watching him and taking the box once Sirius set it down.

"He actually liked the liver," Sirius laughed. At Harry's shocked look, he added, "He preferred the strawberry, of course, but he could finish off the liver that everyone else left."

"Which is liver?" Harry asked, handing the box back. Sirius glanced through it, shaking the box to move the beans several times, until he picked out a black bean.

"I think this should be it."

Harry examined the bean and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully. "It's… alright. I don't like it, but I can handle it." He swallowed and made a face. "He could actually eat those?"

"James could eat anything," Remus muttered, grinning from where he was still reading. "He liked sneaking into the kitchens. You, too," he added to Sirius, who grinned.

"We were growing boys. You can't blame us for that."

"You probably worked ten House Elves to death, if not more," Remus joked, finally looking up, a finger where he was marking his place.

"All the better," Sirius muttered. Remus sighed.

"Don't even bother trying to get pity about your childhood."

"What happened?" Harry asked, missing the conversation.

"Nothing," Sirius answered miserably. Remus sighed again and shook his head, going back to reading. Harry remained there, still staring between the two men.

"When do you have to go back to tutoring?" Sirius asked, changing the subject quickly in the silence.

"Two days," Remus answered, not glancing up. "That's the fourteenth, I believe."

"That's the day after the full moon, too," Sirius told him, frowning. "I'm wondering how you're going to manage that."

Remus frowned and did not answer for a moment. Harry was watching him now, too, waiting for his answer. "I'm almost positive I can make it for then. I'll still give me half a day if I meet her a bit past noon as usual."

"Good luck waking up by then," Sirius muttered, giving Remus a sharp look. "Reschedule it."

"I can try." Remus glanced at the folder of parchments and closed it, running his hand around the thickening spine. "Maybe I can get a replacement."

"I would do it, if I have to," Sirius told him. "Just don't overwork yourself."

"I don't need someone to watch me all of the time," Remus said quietly. Harry looked back down at the table, pretending not to hear their conversation. He had heard many of them start out this way and hated the way they always ended.

"I think you do," Sirius answered. "You're the one that's up at midnight -"

"Trying to protect Harry." Remus rubbed his temples for a second, brow furrowed. "We need to take this seriously."

"And we are. However, you don't -"

"However, the Death Eaters would not be checking the clock to see the time before coming," Remus told Sirius, closing his eyes.

"They can't get in!" Sirius protested.

"Sirius, do you remember what I told you nearly a week ago about Harry's nightmare?" Harry still did not look up.

Sirius turned to Harry. "Did you think the dream was true?"

Harry shrugged. "It was a dream, but it seemed… real."

"There," Sirius said smugly. "Just a dream. Don't worry about it."

Remus brushed his hair from his eyes. "I still think something may be going on -"

"Dreams just organize the day's thoughts," Sirius told him, leaning back in his chair. "That's all."

Remus shrugged. "Alright. I guess it's nothing, then."

Harry was still staring at the table, not moving at all.

"What is it?" Remus asked.

"It just seemed weird," Harry mumbled. "I mean, it looked real."

"What happened in it?" Remus tried to look Harry in the eye but the boy still would not look up.

"He killed Dumbledore after asking him where I was, then managed to get inside here. I think he was waiting outside or something, and could get us when we walked outside. Then he tortured Sirius before just killing you. Then he killed Sirius too and got me." Harry sniffed at the end. "It seemed real."

Remus reached around the side of the table, barely getting his hand onto Harry's shoulder, but squeezing it nonetheless.

"It's all just a dream," he said soothingly, trying to think of a way to cheer up Harry. Harry nodded, biting his lip.

"I've never had a dream like that at the Dursleys."

Remus thought about this for a moment. Maybe it was just the excitement or the change that brought on the dream. But then, he would have had a dream like that before, when he was first there. Harry already seemed used to everything around him at the time.

"You've never had a dream like that since you've gotten here except for that night?" Remus asked tactfully. Harry shook his head.

"We have other things to think about," Sirius said to them. "Christmas is coming and it's a great holiday. You're going to love this Christmas, Harry," he added, winking. Harry smiled.

"They're having a Christmas special on the radio again," Remus groaned, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. "Harry, the first thing we have to tell you is that Wizarding music is dreadful."

"Hey, I grew up with that," Sirius told him, grinning. "It's not that bad."

"Of every station, the same people are on all of them."

"Because they're good," Sirius answered stubbornly. Harry grinned and watched their discussion with interest.

"They're not. The Wizarding World merely lacks the ability to produce many - or any good - musicians. That's why every station is the same." Remus looked smug and crossed his arms.

Sirius sighed and grinned back. "I suppose I'll just have to charm the radio to never turn off again so that you get used to it. What do you think, Harry?"

Remus shuddered as Harry nodded. "That's horrible, Harry. How can you choose to do this to me?" He mouthed the words, "I'm the nice one" and watched as Harry burst out laughing.

"On Saturday we can start getting ready for Christmas," Remus promised Harry once his laughter died down. He nodded and the three fell into silence once more.

The next day dawned on them all quickly and Sirius seemed determined to never let Remus out of his view. No matter how often Remus claimed he did not need anyone to watch him around the full moon, Harry saw that he did not actually push Sirius away at all during the day.

The way they acted, Harry could tell that the two knew each other a long time. Sirius never asked questions of what Remus wanted, but was able to just bring something or do something to Remus and Remus would thank him and Sirius would just shake his head.

Harry found himself alone in the front room later in the day and looked into Sirius and Remus' bedroom to see if they were in there. When he could not find them, he looked outside, where he saw the two men sitting at the backyard, surrounded by the dying grass and wilting flowers. Both were cross legged in the dirt, Sirius holding a mug and Remus with her arms crossed.

Not daring to go outside, Harry watched them through the window, not catching any words. He figured they were not talking and merely sitting there to be alone. However, after a moment, he caught the hint of a conversation.

"It's cold out here," one of them - Harry supposed it was Sirius - whispered, staring into the sky, which was barely starting to darken. "We should head inside soon."

"Not yet," Remus answered. Harry could tell that he was shivering slightly. "It's fresh out here."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"Everything's wonderful outside in winter." Remus moved slightly as though getting into a more comfortable position. "It's -"

"Cold," Sirius repeated. Remus leaned into him slightly, resting his head on the man's shoulder. "You're going to freeze out here. Let's go in. It's almost time."

Remus looked somewhat put-out but stood up with Sirius nonetheless, turning towards the house. Harry moved away from the window quickly, not wanting them to see that he was watching.

When the two entered, Sirius motioned for Remus to go on without him. Remus made a small motion at Harry, saying something, but it was drowned out by Sirius' words.

"Harry, we're both going to be here tonight, but I'm going to be transformed as Padfoot with him, alright?" Harry nodded. He was used to the black dog bounding around the house lately as Sirius seemed to enjoy that shape more.

Sirius gave Harry a one-armed hug and grinned. "We'll see you in the morning."

Harry nodded and remained near his chair, hovering awkwardly. They disappeared into the hall.

Walking around the room a few times, Harry tried to think of a way to last the night. He decided on pulling out his wand and his Honeydukes stash, trying to master Sirius' trick.

Meanwhile, in the cellar that neither of the men had pointed out to Harry yet as the door was not noticeable in the hall, Remus was quickly slipping out of his clothes.

"You're wet," Sirius pointed out as Remus folded his clothes, blushing slightly under the gaze of his friend. "I told you it was cold outside."

Remus found that he was indeed shivering still and felt Sirius' hands rubbing his shoulders, trying to warm him.

Within minutes, right after Sirius managed to place the last of the charms around the room to keep Harry safe outside, Remus found his bones and muscles pull and clench so that he felt sore. Sirius glanced at him without saying a word and sat next to where Remus was on the ground. Warm arms wrapped around Remus' shaking shoulders again as the transformation began slowly. He had never told Sirius that the few minutes before his actual transformation when he could barely speak or think were really the times when his inside organs began to switch.

"It's alright," Sirius soothed, brushing back Remus' hair now. Remus was unable to answer as he felt his throat tighten. Once Remus felt his burn all around, convulsions wracking his frame, Sirius was giving him a quick squeeze on the shoulder and transforming into the large dog, waiting patiently.

The wolf before him finally stopped moving, panting slightly, then straightening up and giving Sirius a long look. It was the time that Sirius enjoyed most - the wolf was slightly worn out, but wanting to attack anything. Remus had a sort of fierceness that he never let show as a human. Sirius growled once and the wolf jumped on him.

Feeling teeth sink into his side, Sirius turned around, shaking Remus off, giving a doggy grin. The wolf's eyes were blazing, still turning gold from the blue color.

They played around for a while, Sirius dodging the wolf as best as he could, but he had to admit that Remus was fast. His friend did not seem as fast as when he first let the rest of them in during his transformation, but Sirius could understand. Having three transformations in the past month could not have done much good, and age was taking its toll on everyone.

With a pounce, Sirius managed to get Remus down, stopping the attacks long enough to get his breath back. The wolf under him had blood around its mouth and side from the attacks and attacking. Sirius knew that he would look no better in the morning.

It would take a bit longer to tire the wolf out. Remus was starting to look tired, but it took another hour before he dropped down onto the floor, mouth open, tongue hanging out as he panted.

Sirius curled up next to him, glad that the wolf was too tired to attack the entry on his territory, and he rested his head on his paws, staring at Remus to make sure he did not hut himself. Once the wolf took to chewing on his own paws, Sirius barked at him once, which startled the wolf and made it stop.

Morning seemed to come faster than Sirius would have liked. He felt a pressure on his side as the wolf moved again, making faint noises deep in his throat, starting to stand when he dropped again. Sirius pressed his wet nose into Remus' fur, trying to comfort him, but the wolf kept trying to stand, dropping as the transformation started.

After a few minutes, Remus was human again, taking in deep breaths on the floor. Sirius transformed back as quickly as possible, holding Remus' shoulders in his arms.

Eyes open and unfocused, Remus looked up at Sirius. His eyes were still rather golden like a wolf's, though the blue was slowly returning, starting at the pupil.

"You doing alright?" Sirius asked him quietly. Remus' face was grey and wan, mouth open slightly as he fought for breath. Dark shadows were always under his eyes now, but they seemed plenty darker now. Sirius could tell from looking at him, too, that the man was plenty thinner than the night before as though transforming used mass, though it was usual.

Nodding, Remus said hoarsely, "I'm doing better than usual." Glancing at his arms, he added, "Thank you."

Sirius saw that Remus was covered in blood, but most of it came from shallow scrapes around his ribs and arms. Compared to the injuries he had seen Remus with in school, they seemed unimportant. Remus' clothes were still folded in the corner, so Sirius grabbed them and helped Remus into them again.

As he stood, Sirius grabbed Remus around the waist, helping him up. He could tell from the way he walked that Remus was nearing unconsciousness and tightened his grip.

As they went through the door, Sirius glanced into Harry's room, seeing that the boy was moving in the bed. It took a moment for the dark head to appear from under the blankets and catch sight of them before a hand reached out and grabbed glasses from the nightstand.

"Are you alright, Remus?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Not too bad," Remus answered back as Sirius steered him into their room.

Knowing that it would not take much for Remus to heal this time, Sirius got him into the bed, summoning him a cup of water before Remus fell unconscious at last.

Harry appeared in the doorway right after.

"How're you both doing?" Harry whispered.

Sirius swept the hair falling into Remus' eyes away and sighed. "We're fine. Just give him some time to sleep."

Harry nodded and Sirius swept him out of the room.

_**More notes! Like I said last chapter, I have another question for you all. November is Nation Novel Writing Month. They have a site and everything, and I was in it last year. I'm tempting to write a fan fiction as my novel this year. If anyone has a plot, character, or romance that they really want written, just stick it in your review and I may think about writing it. Thank you!**_

_**I know have a play list I play whenever writing. If there's a really sudden change in mood, that may be why. I take music to heart. **_

_**Don't bother asking. I do, indeed, have a fetish for hurt and comfort. It's totally not sexual, though.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the Harry Potter franchise or affiliates. Yeah. Don't bother suing because all you would get is my lunch money, and that would make you a bully.**_

_**Author's Notes: First off, thank you to every reviewer! You all make my day! The turnout for this story is coming out rather well and I can't wait to see the review number when we're finished. I'm expecting this story to run around twenty chapters, maybe, so it'll end around… ah, next summer? Oh no, I have no clue. Don't ask me when this'll be over. I know how Snape did everything and what he's up to, but nothing else.**_

Sirius and Harry were at the table once more, eating their way through another bag of candy. Seeing as Harry did not trust Sirius to cook again and Sirius did not trust himself not to kill his godson by ways of choking, they decided that it was safest to have a sugar infested breakfast.

Harry could see that Sirius was staring near Remus' bedroom's door, trying to catch of glimpse of him. He had been jumpy all morning, running into his room and back, trying to comfort himself with the thought that Remus was fine. Harry would have found it humorous if he had not been doing the same, too.

"He was fine last time when I saw him," Harry said to Sirius, who looked pale and nervous. He did not mention how Remus had been unconscious with the long scars down his throat. "He'll be up soon, don't worry."

Sirius nodded, gulping visibly and stuffing a chocolate frog in his mouth whole, not even chewing it. "Is it taking him longer now that he's older?"

Giving Sirius a long look, Harry told him, "I wasn't around before."

He nodded. "Oh - right." Taking the bite out of the frog and chewing it, Sirius told him, "Well, is he alright afterwards? How long does it take him to heal now?"

"He was out for a few hours," Harry said, thinking back. He hated the memory. It did not feel right to imagine Remus in pain. "When he was up, he was fine, I think. Nothing too bad."

Sirius squinted into the distance as though trying to remember something. "That was when they tested the potion, right?" When Harry nodded, he asked, "Did it work?"

"By the sound of it, no," Harry answered truthfully. He did not want to worry Sirius, but it did not feel right to keep everything from him. "He was poisoned by the potion and I know that he didn't seem bothered by it, but he was in bad shape then."

Memories of the previous night flitted through Sirius' head: Remus' weakened movements, the way his lungs seemed to try harder to get air.

"I think it's still working its way through him," he said to the younger boy.

Harry nodded. "Don't worry too much. I know he'll be fine."

Sirius smiled wryly. "Just because he always says he's fine doesn't mean he's always telling the truth.

Harry wanted to cry right there. It wasn't fair now that he knew. Remus had lied to him every time he said he was fine. Harry cared for Remus more than he had ever cared for a person, and it turned out that his caring was being taken as a joke!

"Why does he do that?" he asked miserably.

"He just wants to help you - us," Sirius told him bitterly, slamming the broken chocolate frog around the table and leaving smears of chocolate. "He did it the first time he found out about it…"

"What happened?" Harry asked eagerly, wanting to hear any story he could.

"The three of us noticed that he always left once a month. Remus is a horrible liar, I'm sure you've noticed," Sirius pointed out. Harry smiled slightly. "He's good at hiding his emotions, but he can't tell a real lie to save his life. Said his mother was ill and his aunt died. We started wondering how many aunts he had to spare. When he came back, he looked dreadful. I think it was worse for him as a kid.

"Then, one night, when Remus was gone, James told us what he thought was going on and everything started to make sense. We didn't leave him though, but wanted him to realize that we knew and didn't hate him.

"We went outside and met him outside of - it's called the Whomping Willow. It's a tree that hits anything around it. Turns out there was a tunnel under there that Remus went through when he went to transform." Sirius' voice was starting to sound ragged and he took a breath and looked at the table rather than Harry.

"He came out, of course, and panicked. Tried to get off. We told him, all of that. Then I asked if he was fine. He said he was, of course, and fell unconscious on the spot." A smalls mile fell on his lips. "Did that almost every month afterwards, I think."

Harry could only smile a bit after this. As funny as it was to think about, he could only imagine how he would feel if Remus fell unconscious when with him. It had been terrifying enough….

Sirius' eyes were glazed over again in memory and he kept silent, nibbling on the chocolate frog without really seeing it. Harry gave up on trying to talk to him and ended up walking into Remus' room without being noticed.

Remus was still sleeping, looking rather like a patient in a hospital. The covers were smoothed over his chest, arms perfectly straight over them, chest lifting as he breathed slowly.

Harry placed himself on the edge of the bed, looking into Remus' face. He could tell that Sirius tried to clean blood off of him before Harry could see it as there was still a hint of red underneath the fingernails. He could see the faintest outline of red on his lips too, and it scared Harry more than anything else to think that, once a month, Remus would happily drink anyone's blood.

However, the boy reached out and grabbed Remus' hand with one of his own, small hands, doing what he had seen Sirius do so many times: run his thumb over Remus' thumb, using his fingers to barely tickle the underside of the hand.

"Sirius is really worried," Harry told Remus' sleeping form, laughing slightly. "He's still in the kitchen, thinking. I never know what he's thinking. H doesn't talk too often. He'll talk to us, I've seen that, but he won't say how he feels."

Staring at the closed eyes, he added, "Same with you. You've never told me the truth on how you feel, have you? But maybe you're just… changing the truth. I could tell you weren't fine after the last time." He gulped and forced himself to keep talking. "It's wasn't hard to tell. You didn't look too good. But maybe some part of you was feeling fine. I know how it is." He smiled and continued stroking Remus' thumb with his own. "The Dursleys never abused me or anything. They made me feel unwanted, though. I came here without even knowing more than your name and - well, I wasn't feeling good. It was weird. But it was great to be away from them, even if for a little while. That's why I came back. To be here with you and Sirius."

Harry did not cry. What he was saying to Remus was not some depression speech he had planned out. He was just telling Remus the full truth for once.

"I can tell you and Sirius are friends. It's not hard. I saw you two last night when you were outside and it was wonderful. I've never seen two people that way. I don't know how much you love each other, but I know I've never seen Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia do that. I think he would crush her.

"I could tell that Sirius hated Danielle for liking you. She told me once, when you weren't there, that she liked you. Not like she liked Peter back then, but she thinks you're wonderful. She doesn't care that you're a werewolf. Neither do I. I don't think any of us do. You're just a good person, Remus. Nothing else."

The older man's blue eyes opened slowly, blinking against the strong light filtering through the window. "Harry?" he murmured, seeing the dark haired boy. "Are you alright?" His eyes were unfocused and he still looked tired. Harry could understand; it had only been about two hours since he transformed back. "Were you saying something?"

"No," Harry answered. "Just checking up on you."

Harry found himself walking back to where Sirius was. He had stopped staring off into the distance and was instead sitting on the chair in the front room, watching outside the window. When he heard Harry come in, he asked, "Do you want to go outside for a little while?"

"Sure," Harry answered, putting on a jumper that was on the back of the chair and following Sirius outside the door.

It was indeed cold outside as Sirius said the night before. A blanket of snow fell around the house and made the village beyond the yard look completely white. Sirius bent once they were in the yard and picked up a handful of snow, pressing it into a tight ball and throwing it at a nearby tree. More snow fell from the branches.

"Remus likes the cold, does he?" Harry asked, repeating what Sirius did and only getting a weak amount of snow from the tree.

Sirius grinned and picked up another snowball, tossing it at Harry's feet. "He does. I think it's too cold to even go outside in the winter."

More snow fell from the sky and Harry looked up. Sirius was not throwing any more snowballs, but it was really snowing. Harry smiled and stretched his arms out, catching flakes of it before it melted in his hand.

Sirius picked p another snowball and placed it in the snow, rolling it up until it became the size of his head. Then he continued it several times, placing them all on top of the other. A mound of seven snowballs teetered near the falling point and Sirius kept it up.

"It looks too tall to be a snowman," Harry said, laughing at it. It was around Sirius' height. A finger was shoved into the top ball and dug out a mouth and eyes.

"I think the others are too short to be snowmen," Sirius corrected, still smiling.

"It needs legs," Harry added, pointing near the ground. Sirius kicked out a hole in the center of the bottom roll and, right as Harry could see two legs in it, the entire man fell.

"Maybe it doesn't." Sirius sat on the mound, cloak becoming wet as the snow melted under him. Harry supposed the cloak was either thick or impervious to the cold as Sirius still looked fine after sitting.

They stayed outside for a while longer, catching the flakes of snow. Sirius managed to teach Harry how to freeze the snow in air and they ended up creating pattern in front of their faces out of the droplets. Harry could almost make out the shapes of the snowflakes for once.

Once Harry's lips were blue and Sirius could no longer move his hands for being cold, they went inside. A fire was lit by Sirius and they sat in front of it again, warming their hands as quickly as possible.

Harry felt a cold hand on his shoulder and looked at Sirius. He was smiling.

"I haven't had a good winter in a long time," he murmured more to the fire than Harry. "I think this one is going to be the best."

Harry nodded.

Sirius sighed and glanced at Harry again, eyes flickering to the hall. "Remus has to tutor today, doesn't he? At noon?" Harry nodded again and Sirius sighed again, standing up. "That'll be in soon. He's not going to be able to do it." At the table was the folder Remus had always referred to. Sirius grabbed it by the spine and opened it, glancing through. "It's organized. I'll go in and do it for him."

Harry nodded again. "What should I say to him if he gets angry?"

"It's for his bloody good so he should be thanking me," Sirius said sternly. He was looking through the names. "Some kid at noon. Alright. I can do that."

He glanced at the clock over the mantle piece and saw that it was past eleven already.

"I'll be leaving then," he said. "It'll take time to explain to Dumbledore why I'm there. Mustn't disappoint the Headmaster." He grinned at Harry. "Make sure Remus doesn't come after me or do anything stupid. Keep inside. Be safe. I'll see you soon."

He left through the fireplace, and Harry watched the fire flicker back to red and orange before turning away from it.

It felt as though he were alone in the house. His aunt and uncle rarely left him alone and instead left him with their batty neighbor, Mrs. Figg, who gave him nasty cakes and spoke about her cats. However, Remus was there, so he wasn't all alone.

He began with sitting at the window, watching the snow fall. He did not want to go outside at all, seeing as he knew it was still freezing. Maybe he would explore a bit inside.

The first place he went was into the hallway. He knew that Sirius and Remus had went into the hall the night before but he still could not figure out where they went to after that. He did not look the night before out of fear.

However, being alone made him feel a bit braver.

He turned another corner in the hall, at the very end, where he did not even see that it twisted around. He had never gone that far down the hall as the other doors stopped several feet before.

A door that matched the wall color perfectly was set into the wall. Harry reached out and pushed it open as it had no handle. It opened easily and hi hand buzzed at the door; there were obvious signs of magic still on it.

Inside was just as dull as the door. There was nothing in there. Harry walked into the room, feeling the air become even colder if possible and he missed the warmth of the fire. Something drove him forward.

As he reached the end of the room, he saw that it was rather small. It was only about twenty paces around each wall and he found himself uncomfortable in such a small place. It was amazing that the two could stay in there the entire night.

He pulled out his wand and tried a lighting spell which he managed to get quickly. Light flooded the room, brightening the corners and making the dull grey color become yellow and vibrant.

Harry barely hid his gasp. There was blood over the wall in front of him and he felt himself step in another pile of it. It looked dry, but bits of it seemed to still give off a wet glow like water.

He left the room quickly, finding Remus in the hallway, standing in the doorframe. He still looked ill and grey, though his eyes looked alive.

"Harry?" he asked hoarsely. "Are you - what happened to you?"

Dropping the spell off of his wand, he knew that he had to look pale and scared. Remus seemed like a dog in that way - he could sense fear easily.

"I was - nothing," Harry replied quickly.

Remus frowned and shook his head. "That can wait. Where's Sirius?"

"Out," was all Harry said.

Looking more exasperated, Remus asked Harry, "What's he doing? What time is it?"

"It's noon and he's tutoring for you."

Remus sighed and rested his head on the doorframe. "Stupid. He could have woken me."

"I agree with Sirius on this," Harry chirped in, trying to brighten the mood and forget what he saw minutes before. "Nothing can wake you. We thought it would be best if you slept a while longer."

Remus shook his head. "No. It's my job now to make sure they're tutored correctly. I'm afraid of how Sirius is going to teach them now."

"Just go back to sleep," Harry told him, voice finally dropping back to a normal pitch. "It'll be fine. He says he doesn't want you to worry at all and that he an do it all himself."

Although he tried to move out of the room, Remus seemed to catch himself in time. "I suppose I can skip this time," he sighed. "It's really my job now, though -"

"Next month we'll make sure you can do it." Harry waved his hand slightly, seeing that he was still holding his wand. He dropped it behind his back again, not wanting Remus to ask why he even had the wand out. "I don't even see how anyone can expect you to do this when you're like this."

Harry pointed to the bed with such a force that sparks flew from the end of the wand. Remus gave him a smile and returned to the bed, sitting on it. Harry joined him.

"Dumbledore didn't expect me to," Remus answered. "I did." Disgust lined his voice and he sounded rather bitter. Harry was shocked by the sudden change in tone. "I thought I could manage doing something right on these days for once -"

"No one is expecting anything of you right now!" Harry scolded. "Just get well and then we can go back to expecting you to do everything for us!"

Remus started laughing as Harry said it. "Harry, you really know how to make everything better."

"So does sleep," Harry added.

Still trying to supress his laughter, Remus just shook his head. "I'm not tired. I think I'm up for good." He gave Harry a stern look. "Now, what were you doing when I found you."

"Just looking around," Harry replied, glancing at the ground. His feet were waving over them, still a few inches too short.

"You looked scared," Remus pointed out. "I don't have anything frightening around the room - Harry. You didn't look -"

Harry nodded slightly, then turned it into a shrug. "I didn't mean to! I was just curious!"

Remus did not answer for a moment but murmured, "It's fine. I understand. Kids are curious. It's not your fault. I should have secured it better." He seemed to be glancing down at Harry because Harry could feel the blue stare on him and silence filled the room. "It's not bad, Harry. Kids are curious. No one's going to ever get angry at you for something you didn't mean to do."

"It's not that," Harry murmured. "It was just… weird in itself. I mean - you stay in there every month? It's -"

"It's fine," Remus told him firmly. "Now, we're going to go and I'll make you some breakfast. I doubt you've eaten anything proper yet, judging by the chocolate on your cheek." Remus wiped Harry's face jokingly, managing to get rid of some of the smear.

As they walked out of the room, Harry glanced out the window again.

And that was when the attack started.

_**I have no words anymore. First off, let me recount the week.**_

_**To anyone affected by the hurricane: Wow. It's… so many words describe what I've seen. I was at a complete block for a day or two because all I could think is, "All those people." I have family near that place. I don't think anyone's hurt, or at least I'm assuming little news is better than none. My heart and prayers go out to everyone who was including, hurt, or even scared by it. **_

_**Second, to the reviewers: You brightened a week for me. You are all too kind now. Wow. I've never been so complimented in my life as I've been these past few weeks. Thank you all. You make writing six pages fun.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the Harry Potter series or affiliates. Please do not sue.**_

_**Author's Notes: Huzzah for three day weekends. I promise to write anything I can this weekend, but I have five projects for school. Well, one of them I finished, the other four. Well, one of them my partners should be helping with but that seems to not be the case.**_

Sirius had no clue what was going on with Remus and Harry. All he knew was that he was having enough problems.

"Hullo," he grumbled to Dumbledore after having been shot out of the fireplace. He tried to wipe the ash from his clothes but they remained. It had been too long since he traveled that way. Since the last incident, Remus did not find Floo Powder a good way of traveling anymore.

Dumbledore gave him a curious look for a moment, then asked, "Where's Remus today?"

Sirius threw a glare at him and hoisted the thick folder up in his arms. "He's ill," he answered dryly.

Nodding, the headmaster said, "I guessed so. I told him not to come today and it amazes me you managed to keep him down -"

"I can't believe you expected him to be able to come today?" Sirius stormed, still breaking down hard on Dumbledore.

"I did not -" Dumbledore tried to say but Sirius was still raising his voice.

"It's bad enough having to go through it anyway and forcing him to -"

"Sirius," Dumbledore said firmly, voice only raised slightly. Sirius fell silent, even if more a moment. "I did not ask him to come today. I cancelled the tutoring for today telling the students that he was busy."

"There's no point to making it up," Sirius snapped bitterly. "They already know he's a werewolf, don't they?"

"Most of them do, indeed," Dumbledore agreed.

Sirius carried on the conversation grudgingly and said that, if needed, he would still take on the tutoring. However, Dumbledore said that there was no point and that the students may enjoy a day off.

He turned back to the fireplace and was tempted to give Dumbledore a distasteful look, but he reminded himself of Remus and Harry and kept quiet.

Meanwhile, Remus was staring at Harry. The boy had frozen as Remus was walking towards the kitchen and his eyes were wide.

"What is it?" he asked, peering around at the window. His mouth fell open though he kept perfectly silent.

A large group of people, at least five of them, stood near the front lawn. They were looking around curiously, though Remus could not see their eyes. The faces were covered with white masks. Dark robes fluttered around their ankles and twisted in the wind.

Remus' hands reached out for Harry at once. He clamped it around the thin shoulder and squeezed it, trying to comfort Harry as much as himself.

"Harry, go to the fireplace," Remus hissed. "Go to Hogwarts. Tell Dumbledore and Sirius what's happening."

"What about you?" Harry asked, voice higher than usual.

"I'll keep them here," he answered.

"They can't see us, though, can they?" Harry asked, still not breaking eye contact.

"I don' know," Remus answered. Harry still remained frozen under his grip. "Go!" he hissed again, giving Harry a gentle shove by the shoulder. Harry moved to the fireplace, gripping a fistful of Floo Powder and glancing back at Remus as though asking again. Remus nodded to the fire again and Harry pulled out his wand, making another fire and disappearing through it.

Glancing back to the window once he was sure Harry was gone, Remus chanced moving closer. It was better to risk his life and see if they could see him than having to wait until someone was there to check.

Close to the window with his wand out and low so that they could not see it, Remus waited with bated breath. None of the Death Eaters seemed to notice him. He would have knocked the window to check, but he was not up to risking it.

No matter how long they looked around, their eyes never met Remus'. He was waiting for a sign that Harry had managed to tell Dumbledore, but he did not need to wait long -

A flash of red fire burned bright in the snowy air outside near the Death Eaters before fading into the shape of three people. Dumbledore was standing before Sirius and Harry, wand already raised before the Death Eaters noticed him.

The nearest one turned quickly, aiming his own wand at Dumbledore. However, the older man was too quick. A flash of blue light flew through the air and the Death Eater was frozen. Several began running, but Remus saw that the broadest of them was advancing on Dumbledore with an almost dog-like walk.

Dumbledore could not see that the man was going for him. Sirius and Harry both had their own wands out, Sirius aiming spells at the Death Eaters with a fierce passion. Harry tried to hide but managed several weak spells, looking to frightened to do much.

Running outside with the other three, Remus aimed a spell at the Death Eater that came near Dumbledore. It hit his back and he was forced to turn as he fell forward.

Remus felt a spell hit his own chest and fell forward onto his knees before realizing that a spell did not hit him. Rather, a person did.

As the other three fought off the remaining Death Eaters, Dumbledore managing to easily keep them close, Remus felt a hand grab him by the throat and force his head up.

A face he had never seen before came into view. It looked familiar however, with the grey hair and yellow eyes. Pointed teeth shown between the red lips and his gaze was almost hungry on Remus.

"I haven't seen you in the long time," he told Remus, voice hoarse sounding and bark-like. He dragged him to the side of the battle and gave him a mocking imitation of a smile. "I had the pleasure of meeting you… how long ago? Twenty-three years, if memory serves me right."

Remus froze. Twenty-three years? Once he knew the date, it all fell into place.

He had never been exposed to many other werewolves as there were only a few around. However, this one had ever mark of a natural werewolf: yellow gaze, the sharpened teeth and nails, the grey skin….

Trying to fight from the strong grip, Remus only managed to fail. It was amazing the other man - werewolf - could hold him so still. Remus was still feeling faint from the night before.

"I'm not letting you go now that I've found you," the werewolf growled and Remus could only watch the battle helplessly.

Harry managed to not be hit by any spells at all. Remus could count ten Death Eaters, all of whom were aiming for Harry, but Dumbledore and Sirius managed to keep them at bay. Harry looked scared, eyes wide and mouth open as he tried to figure out where to aim.

"Harry, get in!" Dumbledore called over the sounds of the spells being fired. Harry glanced around for a moment before shutting his eyes and opening them again. Remus could see him disappear into where he knew the house was at a run.

Sirius and Dumbledore managed to round up the Death Eaters easily. Sirius glanced at where Remus was, eyes widening, then glanced at Dumbledore. He ran to Remus, wand pointed out at the werewolf holding Remus, slowing his walk.

"Let him go," Sirius growled, eyes narrowing.

The werewolf let out a rasping laugh. "Let go of prey? Why would I do that?"

Sirius flicked his wand as though motioning for the werewolf to move. He only laughed again.

"If you're not going to move -" Sirius threatened, but he was interrupted with a snort from the large werewolf.

"You're going to hit it, are you?" he asked, motioning to Remus, who was positioned in front of him.

Remus' eyes widened as he saw where the werewolf was going. "Sirius - please do it - for Harry," he pleaded.

Sirius glanced at Remus to where the house was invisible to most eyes. His grey eyes were wandering between the two for a moment.

"If you don't let him go they'll go," Sirius threatened, motioning vaguely to the other Death Eaters.

"Do what you want to them," the werewolf responded. "He's not going with you."

Sirius, for a moment, looked lost. An uncertain look filled his eyes, but he merely paused and made his next move so rapidly that Remus almost missed it.

He transformed into the large, black dog and jumped at the werewolf's throat. It may have been out of sheer fright at the sudden situation that Remus was let go and dropped against the ground. Sirius was snarling and tearing at the werewolf, causing deep marks to be torn through the toughened skin.

The werewolf was fighting back, however. He was tearing at Sirius like a dog, snarling just as loudly. Remus tried to get Sirius from the fight, but found that the other werewolf only managed to tear his arm. He withdrew, bleeding freely, just as he saw the end of Dumbledore's battle.

The old man fell against the ground, gripping his arm as though in pain. The other Death Eater rushed to his partners and got them off of the ground, Apparating instantly.

Remus called out for Dumbledore, rushing over to him. He had fallen, arm looking bloodied.

"I - I -" Dumbledore managed, throat sounding incredibly dry.

Grabbing him by the shoulders and risking a glance at the other fight going on, Remus said, "I'll get you inside - Fidelius Charm on it -"

Dumbledore nodded and Remus told him the address in the hurried whisper. Their blood was falling, mixed together on the ground as they went.

Harry was moving away from the window and towards the door when Remus saw him. He looked pale and frightened.

"Keep watching for when Sirius is done!" Remus told him, summoning a bandage and trying to clean the deep wound on Dumbledore's arm.

"What happened?" Harry asked, breaking his eye contact with Sirius and the other werewolf for a only a moment.

"There were too many of them," Remus answered. "Professor! Can you hear me?" He started worrying once Dumbledore's eyes fell closed and he stopped moving. It was not enough blood to kill him surely, but Remus was unsure of any sorts of spells that hit him during the fight.

Dumbledore's head nodded slightly though he did not speak. Remus nodded as though in agreement and secured the wrapping around his arm.

"Can you stand?" he asked next. Dumbledore grabbed his shoulder and Remus hoisted him up, glancing back at Harry. The younger boy's head turned to glance at him.

"It's over! I think he's hurt -" He made to the door but Remus threw out an arm and stopped him.

"Stay here with Dumbledore," he commanded, heading for the door. "I can handle this."

Harry's mouth opened to argue but Remus yelled, "Stay here! I don't want you outside!"

"You can't stop me from saving Sirius!" Harry yelled back when Remus' hand was on the door handle.

Remus did not even bother explaining anything to Harry. Millions of reasons why he could not go were in his head.

"Stay, Harry!" he growled more fiercely than he wanted to. Harry remained motionless as Remus bolted out the door.

Sirius was on the ground, the other werewolf over him, mouth wide open as though going to bite him.

Taking out his wand again, Remus aimed a spell at the werewolf, who toppled off of Sirius. Sirius managed to claw him way into a sitting position and forced himself up. Remus could see the bloodied wounds around his torso as Sirius fought his way to Remus.

The werewolf looked furious. He bared his teeth at Remus, who remained steady, this wand out.

"Touch him and you're going to die," Remus told him calmly enough, anger vibrating on his words.

Amazingly, the werewolf did not move. He remained there, unmoving, fixing a yellow gaze on the two.

"You couldn't kill me," he said slowly.

Remus' grip on the wand doubled. "Yes, I could."

The werewolf gave another rasping laugh. "You could never kill a person. You're weak. You couldn't even come with your own kind!"

Eyes falling closed for a moment, Remus answered, "I could easily kill you if you lay another hand on him."

Smiling again, the werewolf lunged for Sirius.

Remus was ready. A jet of red light hit the werewolf in the chest and he moved back and threw Sirius out of the way. The unconscious form of the werewolf landed on Remus' chest and he felt the air pushed out of his lungs.

"Remus!" Sirius yelled, falling down to push the still form off of his friend. "Here -" He reached out a hand and dragged Remus to his feet. Remus was coughing as he stood, blood dribbling from his mouth.

"He has to weigh at least twenty stone," Remus said, smiling slightly as he wiped his mouth off. Sirius grabbed his shoulder and the two could walk inside again, leaning on each other for support.

"What happened?" Sirius asked once they were inside. Harry was bending over Dumbledore, looking worried.

"I think he's fine," Harry told them. "He said he's just a bit tired and he should go back to Hogwarts to see Madam Pomfrey."

"I think it would be a good idea for you to come, too," Dumbledore said, voice still oddly husky and hoarse. "Poppy can fix everything again."

Sirius tightened his grip on Remus and nodded. "Alright."

Harry led the way to Hogwarts through the Floo Powder, Dumbledore following quickly after. Sirius glanced at Remus and leaned him into the fireplace, letting him go, then leaving last.

Dumbledore and Harry were already headed for Hogwarts once Remus felt Sirius land next to him. They followed quickly, seeing the stark white walls that marked the Hospital Wing.

"Headmaster!" was the first thing they head from the matron. She immediately hovered over all of them, giving them potions and checking any wounds. Harry refused to be checked up on, explaining that he was fine, then stood in the corner, looking worried.

Remus noticed that the scar across his face was fading. Harry was marked in so many ways, all involving Voldemort already at such a young age. He had his infamous scar which covered part of his forehead, a bright red color against his face. The second scar from Snape did not detract the good-looking features he got from his father, but seemed to make him all the more brave and stubborn looking.

Dumbledore left several minutes in, explaining that he would go back and make sure no Death Eaters could get in. Remus nodded and Madam Pomfrey let him go.

"You all seem to be getting into more trouble than needed," she scolded them. "Make sure that you can all keep safe for at least two weeks from now on!"

Remus smiled weakly then glanced at Harry. "It's all right," he told the boy. "No one's going to operate on you, if you don't want it."

Harry moved forwards and stood next to Sirius, who was sitting on one of the chairs across from Remus.

No one spoke as Madam Pomfrey continued her rant on how unsafe they were acting. Harry whispered something to Sirius, who nodded, and the young boy left the room.

"Going home with Dumbledore," Sirius whispered quietly enough for Madam Pomfrey not to hear.

Remus nodded and made to stand. Madam Pomfrey pushed him back down in his chair, so Sirius left instead, mouthing his excuse to Remus.

The halls seemed strangely empty, Sirius noticed. He figured the students would be leaving around then to go home for the holidays, but it was still eerie that no sound met his ears but his own thoughts and footsteps.

He reached the Headmaster's Office and kicked one of the gargoyles until it yelled at him. He explained why he was there and it grudgingly let him in after threatening to blow him up.

"Sour, sour," the gargoyle said after Sirius in a snide whisper. Sirius ignored him and made his way up the staircase, entering the office. No one was in there. He went to the fireplace and Flooed out into the house.

"Harry?" he called out once he saw nothing. There was the sound of footsteps and a dull thumping, but nothing else in answer. Sirius followed the sound of the footsteps until he was met with a grim sight.

Severus Snape was standing near the front door, Harry bound and gagged next to him, a body on the floor.

Sirius let off a stream of curses at Snape, grabbing his wand immediately. Snape turned towards him, eyes widening, then throwing a spell at Sirius.

He managed to dodge the curse and they fought, hexing each other. Snape never spoke, only using nonverbal spells, acting as calm as possible. Sirius would let off muttered phrases whenever he could, cursing loudly as the spells almost hit him.

"Harry?" he yelled at the boy, aiming a Stunning Spell at Snape and dodging another. "Can you move?"

Harry shook his head, struggling against the ropes.

"Who is that?" Sirius asked next, aiming another spell at Snape, who deflected it.

The body on the floor had not yet moved, and Sirius was afraid that if he chose to look, Snape would have the perfect chance to curse him. Harry, however, was unable to answer.

"Avada Kedavra!" came the spell from Snape. Sirius' eyes widened as he threw himself onto the floor, barely missing the curse.

"Shit!" Sirius yelled, aiming a spell at Snape's leg. Snape, unable to bend fast enough, immediately Disapparated from the house, filling the air with a loud cracking sound, then letting the air fall silent.

"How did he get in here?" Sirius asked, untying Harry from the ropes and waiting impatiently for an answer as Harry rubbed his wrists and ankles.

"I don't know!" Harry answered, panic in his voice. "I was here with Professor Dumbledore and suddenly he was gone and Snape was here instead."

He rested his head on Sirius' shoulder and Sirius started rubbing his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Finally, he had to chance to look at the body -

There was a shock of very light brown hair, and the back of the woman was robed in green. Sirius stared at the body, eyes wide.

"Is she dead?" he asked Harry.

Harry merely sniffed into Sirius' chest and turned away from the body. "I have no clue!"

Sirius let go of Harry, who fell back, not daring to look, and then turned Danielle's body over.

"Why was she here?"

"I think she was coming to check on us," Harry answered, voice muffled into his jumper. "She walked in and asked what was going on and then Snape got her."

"What spell?" Sirius asked urgently.

Harry shook his head. "I have no clue. I think it was either blue or green."

Sirius' throat tightened. "You're not sure which?" Harry shook his head. Sirius grabbed at her wrist, trying to find a pulse.

There was none.

Sirius did not say anything to Harry, but remained silent, giving him a long look. Harry seemed to understand.

No words were there to say. Sirius never liked Danielle and Harry did. No words could settle that matter. Sirius, however, disliked death more than Danielle and found himself in shock. Harry was in tears, keeping quiet as they dripped down his face.

Remus appeared a moment later, walking out of the fireplace and glancing around to find them. He walked into the room and Sirius refused to meet his eyes. However, the stopping of footsteps gave him a clue as to what Remus was doing.

"Danielle?" he asked quietly, dropping onto the floor behind Sirius. "Sirius, what happened?"

Harry started gasping as his tears increased, falling against Remus.

"What happened?" Remus asked numbly, and Sirius finally met his eyes.

"I think Snape was under Polyjuice as Dumbledore." He rubbed his arms, trying to think straight. Everything was crashing down around him and it was all so confusing. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to visit him in Azkaban and gave it to him then."

"Who could have replaced them?" Remus asked. "The dementors would have to notice someone leaving.

"I don't know," Sirius answered.

"She's dead," Remus whispered, still staring at Danielle. "Severus killed her?"

Sirius nodded and Remus fell completely silent. Harry was still crying into Remus' chest and Sirius wrapped an arm around Remus, who was looking incredibly pale.

"It's alright, Harry," Sirius soothed. "We're fine. I promise nothing else is going to happen -"

"You all promised!" Harry said thickly, finally raising his bloodshot eyes to them. "You all promised that you would always be here! You lied!"

"We could never promise that," Remus said quietly, voice sounding broken and defeated. "There's no such thing as forever. Someday we're all going to leave and you'll leave others, too -"

"That's not helping," Sirius hissed.

Remus gave him a calm look and Sirius could see that he was actually scared. He was shaking slightly and his eyes were still wide in his pale face. "It's only the truth. Some of us have to learn that early in life."

Sirius remained silent. It was true, he knew, but a bit too morbid for him to want to agree. Harry was still against Remus, his crying starting to stop, but he seemed panicky.

"What should we do with her?" Harry asked.

"There's one thing more important right now," Sirius said. "What happened to Dumbledore?"

Remus had his head in his hands and was shaking. "When did the Polyjuiced Dumbledore come in?"

"I'm supposing the one at Hogwarts had been real. Now, the one at the battle -"

"He fought like Dumbledore," Remus added in. "Same spells Dumbledore usually uses. Same speed. Even Snape could never imitate that."

Harry furrowed his brow. "Could he be invisible?"

Sirius sighed. "Anything could have happened. He could be invisible, he could be safe at Hogwarts, he could be hidden, he could be dead -"

"Don't say that," Harry snapped. Sirius followed his gaze to Remus, who was sitting with his legs folded in. He was still shaking slightly.

"Remus?" Sirius asked, touching his shoulder lightly. Remus did not respond. "Remus, he can't be dead. We would know. Besides, they wouldn't be able to make the potion, then. They would need something off of him."

"They only needed the potion to last that long," Remus answered, still not moving his head. His voice was hoarse. "He could be."

"He's not," Sirius said sternly.

Remus finally lifted his head, his eyes just as bloodshot as Harry's. "It's possible, Sirius. You know it. And a dead Dumbledore is no good for us." He took in a shaking breath. "He did so much for me and now -"

Sirius' grip on Remus doubled again to the point of almost breaking the shoulder. "He did something for everyone. But right now we have Snape to worry about."

Eyes still somewhat unfocused, Remus murmured, "He let me into Hogwarts, let me take Harry, everything. If he's dead -" He paused and gulped. "If he's dead, I'm killing Snape personally."

_**Let me thank everyone for reviewing. You're all too kind! I would spend the entire weekend writing if I could. I hate projects now, just for taking away from my fan fiction writing time.**_

_**To Mikee and Scribhneoir, I just want to thank you two. You're always the first ones to review every chapter, and manage to follow everything I've written so far. You make me blush so much! Thank you for being so loyal and wonderful.**_

_**To Mikee, sorry about Snape. I admit that I was once a Snape fan girl. Before the third book, really, and for a while in the fourth book. However, it's a bit too much fun torturing him here. I mean, he's the most dangerous Death Eater, in my opinion. He's probably as dangerous as Voldemort, though in different ways. **_


	7. Chapter 7

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series or affiliates. Nor do I own the music I'm listening to. I own characters from another published book, however. Beat that.**_

_**Author's Notes: I can leave off research until tonight or tomorrow. Writing ranks higher than homework with me. Let me just say one things, however: I plan for this story to last another two months, possibly. In November I'm starting a whole new project. If anyone has an idea for that, I'd love to hear it. Name your favorite character or pairing and I may write it.**_

Sirius did not dare move his hand from Remus' shoulder. Kill Snape himself? Remus had always been the calm one of the group. He was level-headed and managed to get them out of trouble by lying through his teeth and never breaking a sweat. He came up with so many safety plans in case they were caught in a prank.

Now he was shaking slightly, staring at his hands, not even bothering to hide his anger at Snape.

"Remus, please don't say that," Harry murmured, eyes wide.

Head turning slightly, Remus replied, "Harry, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't want to lie to you any more than I need to, and this isn't something that I -"

"He's right," Sirius added fiercly. "Remus, if he even could have killed Dumbledore, you're signing your own will with this."

"I don't care," Remus told him, closing his eyes. "I'm going after him before he can ruin anything else."

He was actually on his feet and Sirius made to reach out for his arm, but Remus dodged his grip.

"You can stay. I'd prefer it if you both stayed. But I'm going after him." And with that, he walked out the door.

Harry did not move. Sirius walked to the younger boy and placed his arms around his shoulders.

"He's going?" Harry asked numbly.

Sirius nodded just once. "I think he's serious."

"Is he coming back?"

There was no answer. Harry sounded heart-broken. Sirius knew that he had to sound the same. Remus would have already Apparated, and there was no way to trace where he went. He was going on a suicide mission to avenge someone who might not even be dead.

"I don't think so, Harry," Sirius replied.

Remus had Apparated as soon as he reached outside the house.

Severus Snape killed Albus Dumbledore. Remus had to shiver even when he thought about it. He knew that Voldemort had always been afraid of Dumbledore himself and would never approach the man. However, to have Snape, of all people, be able to kill the best wizard of the century?

It made the man even more fearsome than Voldemort. He had no fear of even Dumbledore.

Remus had not been too close in contact with Dumbledore for years, since the Order of the Phoenix decided they were no longer needed as they were almost all dead and the Dark Lord was gone. However, there was no chance of the man getting weaker in that time, but the contrary.

In his mind, Remus added another person to the Order of the Phoenix's death toll. It had become something he could refer back to whenever he wanted after a few years. Right after he graduated from school and was shoved into the group, he was surrounded by death. Lily and James, of course, and when he thought Peter was dead. Alice and Frank were almost dead. The Bones were killed, of course, leaving one of their children in another part of the family. She would be somewhere around Harry' age.

Albus Dumbledore was gone, too, and he was their last hope.

The weight of the past few days fell on Remus' shoulders and he could actually feel them slump as he landed. He was somewhere in the midst of a dark and damp road with old houses around the grey pavement. He followed the road for a while, finally spotting the spot he wanted.

However, Snape's house was nowhere to be seen.

Remus tried to search his brain for the address he should have remembered, but nothing came to mind. He could only remember the street.

Fidelius.

Snape would be at his window, invisible to Remus at that moment, watching his every move just as Reus had done earlier.

And Dumbledore could be in there with him.

He stared at where he supposed to house would be and dug further into his memory, knowing that he would never find the answer. The charm would have wiped it all out of his mind. Nothing would bring it up again. It would be as if he had never been there.

But to get Dumbledore in there, Severus would have had to tell him the address.

Dumbledore's mind worked in strange ways, Remus knew, but he never understood any more than that. The man liked sweets and socks when he was past one hundred years! It was a sign of madness that Remus still needed to learn.

He looked around at the ground, seeing nothing but dirt and gravel. Dumbledore would have had to leave something as a clue…

Remus was on his hands and knees, looking around at everything he could see. Nothing looked disturbed or added as a clue. Maybe the man had been unconscious.

When he raised his head, he saw what he was looking for.

Back where he had last been, Sirius and Harry walked around the house, distracted and unable to think straight.

"Maybe he's at Hogwarts," Harry said. "Would Snape be there?"

"After all of that?" Sirius snorted. "I doubt it. He would have run like a coward."

Harry kicked a wall very lightly and sighed. "He said he wants us to stay here -"

"I'm letting him go alone!" Sirius snarled at Harry, forgetting who he was talking to. "I've known him for nearly nineteen years, and I refuse to let him go out and die like that! Snape could kill him -"

"And he could kill Snape," Harry added, staring at Sirius. "It can go either way. Remus is strong."

"He still shouldn't be doing this."

Harry shook his head. "He shouldn't be, but he wants to. It doesn't matter how he's been acting for a while. You said it yourself; he's good at hiding things. He really cares about Dumbledore."

Sirius shrugged and looked longingly at the door. "I think so."

Harry watched his gaze as it stayed on the door and refused to waver. Maybe it had been too long since Sirius was really free. It sounded as though he was free to some extend. Dumbledore must have managed to convince the Minister, by the hand Remus had seen, that Sirius was really innocent and never murdered anyone. He had been outside before and a lady down the road waved kindly to him.

He was still a prisoner, though. Harry could only imagine what it would be like to be thrown in the prison for so long, and he had no clue of what made the prison different from any other. But the way Sirius acted at times… It took a real toll on him. And now that he was unable to even leave the house without fear of being killed by Death Eaters, it had to be a new form of prison where freedom was only a few feet away.

Sirius reached almost unconscious and grabbed a cloak that lie on the chair. He wrapped it around his shoulders and glanced at Harry. His gaze swept over Danielle once, but dismissed her.

"You're welcome to stay or come," he whispered. "I think you have the ability to choose."

Harry wrapped his hand in Sirius' larger one.

Remus had no clue that two people were leaving to find him. All he knew was that he found the one thing he had needed to find.

Dumbledore loved sweets, and it would never be below him to have one in hand at all times.

Underneath of a patch of grass was a small wrapper of what looked like a lemon drop. It looked as though some sort of spell had been cast on it and Remus could feel strong vibrations of magic coming off of it. He reached out and touched it, hoping Dumbledore would be leaving a clue.

The air pressed around him as he did, and he felt weightless, flying through the air at the speed of light. He could not remove his fingers from the wrapper and found himself landing on a hard ground where he collapsed on impact.

It was dark inside, all light being filtered by what looked like a curtain of black in front of his face, several feet away. A trace of the light could be seen from through the curtain.

Everything felt hard around him, and Remus reached his arm up the nearest wall, feeling rough wall as though plastering something over with thick paste.

"We were expecting you, but not this quickly," came a voice. Remus looked in the direction from where it seemed to be coming from and saw a dim outline of a tall man. He had hair that glowed in the darkness, a white or blonde color. "Or - I see. This is the wrong one."

The man looked over his shoulder at someone else, who stepped forward. He was shorter than the first man and Remus recognized the voice at once.

"How amusing, Lupin. You seem to have the knack for turning up when no one wants you around." Snape pulled out his wand and murmured a spell, causing a brilliant light to fill the room.

Both were wearing Death Eater masks. The light cast shadows on the white masks that covered their entire faces, making them look like pale imitations of humans.

"Who did you expect?" Remus asked quietly, not daring to stand.

Lucius Malfoy paused and Remus could only guess he was raising his eyebrows. "Telling our enemy? Well, let's just leave it at 'We weren't expecting a werewolf of all creatures.'"

Remus did not respond to it but remained silent as he supposed would be the better choice. Memories of his last meeting with Death Eaters told him to keep quiet.

"Where is Albus Dumbledore?" Snape asked, still glaring down at Remus, wand held high over his head.

They didn't have him.

Thinking fast, Remus answered, "I know where he is, exactly. If you tell me who you were waiting for, I'll tell you where he is."

He kept his gaze from Snape's to make sure the man did not use Occlumency on him. Snape glanced at Lucius and there was silence until Lucius said, "We were waiting for Truman. She knows what we need. Now where is Dumbledore?"

Remus quirked a smile. "You're lying. You killed her only a while ago." He pointed to Snape, whose eyes narrowed as he snarled.

"It -"

Lucius shot Snape another look and Snape glared at him instead, keeping silent, obviously chewing on his tongue.

"Our plans are nothing of a werewolf's concern. Tell us where he is now!"

Remus remained silent and merely slipped a hand behind his back. His wand would be in his belt. He felt the cold wood against his hand and clutched it for when he would be needing it.

Snape watched Remus carefully and his own wand was dropped suddenly as Remus brought his out and aimed at the two, using a nonverbal spell.

Lucius was thrown off of his feet, hitting the wall behind and causing the veil over the window the fall. Sunlight hit Severus, causing him to glow from behind and almost blind Remus. His glare was nothing short of hateful as he aimed his wand at Remus and flicked it, causing Remus to double-over and groan with pain. It felt as though his lungs were being torn apart and his breathing almost caused a spasm in his chest.

When Snape lowered his wand, the pain continued on and Remus pulled his hands away from his chest to see that they were coated in blood. It looked as though Snape had torn a ragged hole in his chest that poured blood over the grey floor.

"Tell us where he is, Lupin!" Snape yelled face contorted in anger.

Gasping for air, Remus aimed his wand again and thought as hard as possible on the spell, mind sweeping away from the pain. Severus was blown off of his feet now like the other man, but did not fall unconscious. Remus took the time when Severus struggled to stand to get to his own feet, walking closer to Severus.

"Where is he?" Remus demanded, voice growing weaker as he fought for breath. Severus was at the point of getting to his feet so Remus, in a moment of rage, cast the spell again, causing Severus to hit the window, breaking it and falling to the floor, showered with glass. He spat some from his mouth and glared up at Lupin. Blood was pouring from his head and he looked pale.

"You have to know where he is!" Remus shouted, feeling nothing but the powerful feeling of anger. The man before him ruined everything he had: he attacked Harry, poisoned Remus, himself, and now - "You used the Polyjuice Potion! You know exactly where he is!"

Severus wiped blood away from his eyes and shouted back, "We have him, yes! He's dead! The Dark Lord had the chance to do that himself!"

Remus' wand arm almost dropped. "You betrayed him?"

A smile on his lips so sinister that Remus had trouble believing it was Snape's face, the man replied, "I would have thought it was obvious before. What do you believe I had been doing? I could have been a much better spy - hiding everything better than I already had. However, I see no reason to waste the effort when no one could pick up such obvious clues. It's pathetic, the group Dumbledore managed to get. He could have done so much better. If he had an ounce of sense, he would have joined the Death Eaters. We're Slytherins at heart. We embody the exact message Salazar Slytherin tried to tell the others who were too stupid to listen to him. Wizarding blood should be kept pure, weed out the weak ones. That's what we are."

"He doesn't think that at all," Remus snarled, laboring for breath. "He thinks everyone has the chance -"

"That's why he took _you_ under his wing, isn't it?" Snape asked coldly, raising his eyebrows. "It' the only reason why you believe it. If you didn't, you wouldn't be holding that wand. You're only a werewolf and nothing more. Dumbledore managed to make you think you were something more, something special, something _human_."

Remus' hand was going numb from the grip on his wand. He felt no energy to use another spell but if there was something, anything, to make him stop. However, he continued, a fake and mocking smile gracing his foul lips.

"In fact, I think half of the people he accepts are out of pity, just like you. Hagrid, that half-giant? Pity. Oh, he has no family, he's not even human. Tell me, how close are you two?" Remus' jaw tightened and he closed his eyes. Even if he was the one covering Snape with the wand, it felt the opposite of it. "Potter? Dumbledore would have been accepting him to Hogwarts in a few years. Dumbledore's dead. Potter may die soon, too, if you don't watch him. He has no family, either. He's barely human, being raised by you and a dog, of all things." Severus sneered.

Remus forced his eyes open and saw Severus there, still smiling an insane smile as he listed all the people off. Remus wanted to turn, to run and find Harry again and tell him that he would have been better off with the Dursleys than him. But a new light kindled in his chest as he thought of Harry.

"He accepted you," Remus said in a low voice, staring Severus down. Severus' expression froze as Remus spoke. "You were never any better than the rest of us. A half-blood, just like me, like Harry, like Hagrid. You had a family, unlike Hagrid and Harry, but just like me. They never loved you, did they? Everyone could tell, Dumbledore the best of us all. You deserved nothing more than pity. But he took you in. Why? Because he believes everyone deserves a chance, no matter who or what they are."

Severus opened his mouth, face in the worst expression Remus had ever seen. He looked as though he could have attacked Remus on the spot.

Feeling no pity for the creature before him, Remus murmured, "If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have _that_ wand, either." He motioned to the fallen wand. He bent and picked it up, twirling the thin rod of wood between his fingers and examining it closely.

"Funny, this. Same wood types on our wands, aren't they? We have more in common than you choose to believe. All Voldemort wants to do is convince you he's the best, he's the new Slytherin."

Silence filled the air again and Remus gave Lucius' unconscious body the smallest half glance he could. "Him? He's the model of a Slytherin, perfectly. He came from a pureblood family that loved him to some degree. He's the one you should be looking up to if you support Voldemort. Now look at where it's gotten him. Is that what you want, too?

Severus kept quiet instead of answering. Remus guessed he would not answer. His gaze was fixed on Lucius, a sort of pleading in his eyes. Remus noticed it easily.

"Severus - please, don't go with him." Remus' blue eyes rested on Severus' black ones.

Back in Hogsmeade, Sirius and Harry argued over where to look first.

"He's going to be looking at Hogwarts," Sirius said again.

Harry shook his head. "No, he would be looking where Snape lives. It's so obvious."

"That's the point," Sirius answered, looking around the snowy ground as though tracks would lead him to where Remus was. "It's too obvious. Severus would have left there for good by now."

"At least look," Harry grumbled. "It's easier to look there, then at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is going to be a disaster site right now. Everyone's going to b panicking."

Sirius paled but nodded. "Grab my arm."

Harry did so, and the two of them disappeared into the air, the air closing around them and drowning the men.

Harry stumbled on the landing, looking around and around. "Where is the house?"

Sirius glanced around. "It's supposed to be there?" He frowned. "Did he use Fidelius or anything?'

"I didn't think so," Harry murmured, looking around the houses. It was the address Remus had in the folder on the small scrap of parchment. "Maybe he just did -"

"Let's check Hogwarts," Sirius murmured, grabbing Harry again and reappearing seconds later outside of Hogwarts grounds.

Harry pulled and pushed at the gate, frowning. "It's all locked up."

Sirius' hands were already hovering over the gates, eyes closed. He pulled away. "Plenty of magic around the school. You're right; they're scared. The Headmaster's dead and no one knows what to do."

Harry shivered. It seemed so empty there with no noises coming through from the school. Nothing moved on the grounds and no footprints lined the snow.

"Can we Floo in?" Harry asked. Sirius shook his head.

"I doubt it. All the networks would be closed in and out of the school. This has never happened before. They're really frightened. It's the beginning of a war."

"And he's the first casualty," Harry murmured, pressing his face against the bars and trying to soothe his aching head. "Our best person on our side is gone as the first one."

Sirius rubbed Harry's shoulder and glared at the school as though trying to revive Dumbledore with his eyes. It looked perfect, snow flecking the windows and towers around the building. "Let's just find Remus. There's still hope for him."

"He should have told us where he was going!" Harry said angrily. "It would have been so much easier!"

"He never wanted you to be hurt," Sirius said quietly, looking around for an answer. "He was already broken up enough after the first attack when you got that scar." He motioned to Harry's face and the boy's hand jumped to his face.

"Let's go back to where Snape is. But first, go back home. I think I know how to get in."

Sirius gave Harry a confused look, but Disapparated back to where the house was, buried under the cold snow. They wrestled through the calming white blankets and got inside. Harry ran off and came back to Sirius with the large folder in hand. Sirius grinned.

"Brilliant, Harry!" he opened the folder and glanced through it, finding a small scrap of paper and looking at it. He passed to Harry next, who read it and memorized the address.

Leaving again, they Disapparated once more. Harry ran off to the door, pacing in front of it impatiently, thinking hard. Sirius did the same and they waited until the house appeared, smashing the other houses out of the way.

"I'll go in first," Sirius said to Harry, placing his hand on the door handle and taking out his wand in the other hand. He opened the door, which was miraculously unlocked, and walked in quietly, aiming his wand into all of the dark corners. Harry followed.

"Nothing here," Harry murmured, lighting his wand. Sirius dropped the wand a fraction of an inch and closed the door, looking around.

"Just books everywhere," he said quietly. "I imagined Severus to prefer another sort of decoration style."

Harry smiled slightly but it slipped off of his face. "Something has to be wrong. Wouldn't he be here? What's he doing out?"

Sirius' pale face turned as he examined the room. "I have the feeling he's somewhere else with Remus. Maybe other Death Eaters."

Harry shivered and looked around the room once more. "But where do we look then?"

Sirius shrugged. "Everywhere. Anywhere. Let's start here. There has to be something."

Harry glanced up towards the far end of the room and smiled. "Sirius, I think I found a clue."

Silently, he pointed to the hidden door behind the bookshelves, which was hanging ajar.

And a face was peering out of it.

_**I felt nice enough to not do too much of a cliffhanger. Alright, this is most likely the last chapter of the weekend. Haha. I'm such a liar half of the time. The last chapter was going to be the last one of the weekend, too. This was is honor of finishing my science research project. Thank Lupin for that. I feel so happy! Only a poster to make, an annotation, a letter to a dead guy, and a project on Connecticut to do. **_

**_Give me chocolate, man! I need something to reward myself! Alright, yes, fan fiction is my reward, true. But chocolate tastes better than the computer._**

**_- Dim_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series of affiliates. Please do not sue. I'm merely using them for fun for a while.**_

**_Author's Notes: I have the projects all done. All I have to do is worry about speaking Spanish in front of the class. Or _clase, _I should say. Gracias para lectura._**

Sirius paused as he stared at the door. Someone was staring right back at them, looking alarmed. It took him a moment to recognize who it was.

"I'm going to kill you!" Sirius yelled, running at the door. Harry grabbed vainly for him but soon lost his grip as Sirius was at the door, holding Peter Pettigrew by the throat. The man looked the same as ever, not counting the obvious signs of aging around his face.

"Sirius!" Harry yelled after him. "Don't - who is that?"

"Pettigrew," Sirius snarled at the man, face close, eyes narrowed. "I'm going to kill you right now -"

"Wait," Harry said, walking up close. "Wait a minute. You're here with Snape, aren't you?"

Peter nodded as Sirius tightened his grip around his throat.

"Then you know where he is, don't you?" Harry's eyes widened as he watched the man, thinking over everything he said.

Peter did not move. Sirius' grip tightened to the point of suffocation and his eyes narrowed into even smaller slits.

Opening his mouth, the short man gasped out, "I - can't -"

"Spit it out!" Sirius growled, ramming his head into the wall again. Peter gasped in agony. "If you don't tell us you're find my hand -"

"He's trying to talk," Harry murmured, getting Sirius to become slightly more quiet.

"He's - out," Peter gasped, closing his eyes against the pain. Sirius' grip loosened the smallest bit possible. Taking in another breath, Peter added, "Said something about… Dumbledore and… Moony -"

"Don't you even call him by that name," Sirius snarled as Harry asked, "Who?"

Forcing a small laugh, Peter said, "You haven't even… told him about -"

"What I do is none of your business," Sirius told him in a venomous voice, dropping Peter onto the floor with disgust. He pulled out his wand before Harry had the chance to stop him. "_Ava-"_

"Sirius!" Harry yelled, grabbing his arm in time. "You can't kill him! Don't -"

Forcing Harry off, Sirius muttered darkly. Peter's eye snapped shut as he slumped to the ground, limp.

"Sirius -" Harry panted, eyes wide.

Sirius shook his head without being as the question. "I stunned him." At Harry's look, he answered, "I can already tell what he's going to tell us from that. I think we're just stuck here until -"

There was a loud cracking sound and Harry drew his wand quickly. Sirius smiled grimly, knowing that he was right. However, the person who Apparated in was not who he expected.

Remus panted as he slid slowly to the ground, knees hitting the floor painfully, though he did not seem to notice. His eyes were wide and he glanced up at Sirius.

Sirius ran towards Remus, grabbing him and holding his head close. Harry watched them, still too shocked to speak.

"What the hell just happened?" Sirius demanded. He forced Remus to look him in the eye.

"How's Harry?" was the first thing Remus asked.

Sirius motioned to Harry, who murmured, "I'm fine, Remus. I'm fine."

"What happened?" Sirius asked Remus again.

"I - I was - Snape was there -" he panted. He looked unfocused and did not seem to want to talk.

Sirius kept him close in a hug and murmured, "Just start from when you left." Remus did not say a word. "Please, Remus. Please. Just talk to me. Please."

Taking in a deep breath, Remus answered in a hurried voice. "I came looking for Snape and there was a Portkey - went to where Snape and Malfoy were. Then -" He gave up on talking and remained motionless except for the flickering of his eyes towards Sirius.

Sirius tightened his grip. "Remus, you're back with us. It's safe. Just tell us what happened -"

Remus glanced at Harry then at the floor. "It turns out Voldemort was there, too."

Taking in a sharp breath, Sirius whispered, "Remus, what happened?"

"He used Cruciatus on me for a little while. Then - then he killed Snape on the spot."

Harry could understand why Remus seemed so shaken. He took a final glance at Peter and walked over to Remus, imitating Sirius and holding his other side close. Remus gave him a startled look and calmed down as though only recognizing him.

"Snape's dead?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded. "How did you get out?"

"When Voldemort was killing Snape. He was talking to him. Snape said - he said I should get out as soon as I could." He closed his eyes. "I think we were wrong in him."

"He brought you there with that Portkey," Sirius growled. "He's not on our side."

"Dumbledore?" Harry asked. Remus glanced at him. "Did you hear anything about Dumbledore?"

Remus' look was still blank though his eyes seemed to fog up slightly. "Severus said he's dead. Voldemort killed him."

"I think we should get home," Sirius whispered, grabbing Remus by the arm and helping him up. Harry watched Remus closely. It seemed as though seeing what he really wanted - Snape dead - was taking a toll on him.

Sirius grabbed both of their arms tightly and Harry felt himself sucked into the sky itself, floating into something he remembered clearly and loved with al of his heart.

When they landed, Sirius stumbled a bit, taking in a deep breath. Side-Along Apparating with two people had to be hard, Harry figured, so he grabbed Remus and forced him into the house and into a chair. Sirius sunk into the chair next to him and Harry sat across from them both, watching.

"I have a feeling Voldemort's going to be coming after us at some point," Remus said quietly, voice starting to break against his will. "Harry -"

"I refuse to move," he answered stiffly.

Remus forced a faint smile. "Listen to me. You need to go back to Hogwarts for some time. Minerva will do a better job than any of us could."

Sirius shook his head. "Remus, Hogwarts is breaking down. They're loosing control. Everyone's scared and panicking. Putting Harry there -" He broke off, still shaking his head. "We can't."

"It's better than killing him," Remus replied shortly. "I'll -"

"When I said no, I meant it." Harry straightened in his chair. "I refuse to move. Besides, how much damage could Voldemort do? I know, he killed -" He cleared his throat. "Well, by the sounds of it, he's still dead to everyone."

"That's what makes him worse." Remus sighed. "If no one believes he's alive, they're easier targets."

"But he doesn't have a body, does he?" Harry asked blandly.

Sirius turned slowly to Remus. "Did he?"

Remus shook his head. "It was awful. He was on the back of a man's head. Just - just his face there." Remus closed his eyes.

"What did the man look like?" Sirius asked, badgering Remus for anything else he could remember.

He did not answer.

"Remus?"

Opening his eyes and looking at Sirius, Remus whispered, "I have no clue."

Sighing, Sirius asked, "How can you not remember?" Harry looked at Remus, wondering the same thing.

"You have no clue," Remus murmured. "I was there, and Severus was telling me everything that had happened. Then, he was in there. It was too sudden."

"Please remember." Sirius' voice was pleading as he spoke and tried to meet Remus' eyes.

Finally, Remus looked him in the eyes, expression fierce. "I told you. I can't remember it. I have no clue."

Sirius stood up and sighed again. "I think you ought to sleep for a while. That may help your memory."

Remus let himself be pulled up from the seat rather roughly and dragged off down the hall. Harry remained at the table, waiting until Sirius was back.

"He's refusing to sleep now," Sirius grumbled, putting his head in his hands.

"It shook him up," Harry whispered. "It would have shaken anyone up. He was in there with Voldemort, remember that."

Sirius glanced at Harry and the younger boy could see that his eyes were reddened with tears. "That's what scared me the most. I'm not sure he's telling the whole truth about Voldemort and what he did. He's too shaken up for only that."

"Anyone would be shaken!" Harry repeated. "Imagine seeing someone die."

"He's seen it often enough to know what it's like," Sirius said shortly. When Harry opened his mouth to ask, Sirius quickly cut in, "Don't even ask. You're too young to understand."

Harry bit his tongue to stop from snapping something back. Instead, he said, "I think it's stress from seeing it."

"Well, whatever it is, we need him to remember what happened so that we can get a head start on Voldemort."

"Just give him time," Harry reminded him quietly. Sirius gave him another look. "Alright. In two hours you can check on him again, how's that?" Sirius shrugged. "Good. For now -" Harry placed his own head in his arms. "Right now I want to sleep, too."

Sirius stood up and patted Harry's arm. "I think we would all do better after some sleep."

Harry stalked off into his own room and Sirius walked into where Remus was. The brown-haired man was sitting in the bed, laying on his side, covers high up to his chin.

Sirius crawled into the bed next to him, shrugging the covers over his torso. He wrapped an arm around Remus, casually swinging it over his shoulders. Remus froze under his touch for a moment until his body shuddered back into an awkward motion.

Furrowing his brow, Sirius removed his arm and noticed how Remus looked more relaxed once he did.

"Alright?" he asked cautiously.

Remus rolled onto his side and stared Sirius in the eye. "I - just, don't touch me for a while," he muttered, staring down at the blanket.

Sirius sighed again and rolled onto his back. "Remus, are you sure you can't remember anything about how he looked?"

"I can't," he replied stiffly. "Really, Sirius. And asking a million times isn't going to change that anytime soon."

"If we had a Pensieve or something," Sirius was saying over Remus' voice. "I mean, if we did, you could just go back and look into it -"

"I'd prefer not to see it again."

Sirius plummeted a fist into the bed, narrowly missing Remus. "It was only Snape -"

"It was only Snape to you," Remus answered angrily. Sirius turned his head and saw that Remus was glaring at him.

"Are you saying that you and -" Sirius broke off, unable to finish the thought. He grimaced.

"_No,_" Remus answered in a quietly angry voice. "What I'm saying is that there's a difference between wishing a person death and actually seeing it. Sirius, it was Severus, damn it. I mean, even if you think he's on Voldemort's side, if Voldemort actually killed him -"

Sirius blocked out the end of the sentence. He already knew what Remus was going to say and it terrified him more than he cared to admit. _What would he have done to Remus?_

"I know, though - Sirius, what he said -"

"What did he say?" Sirius asked rudely.

Remus was silent for a moment. "He said, 'Leave, you damned werewolf, and tell Minerva that it's been moved to the End.'"

"What was moved?"

"I have no clue," Remus answered blandly. "That's all he said before he died." He paused for a moment. "It sounds like Hogwarts is in a total uproar, though. Are you sure about it?"

"I don't think they're doing too good. Dumbledore is gone; they don't even know he's dead right now."

Remus' grimaced but quickly hid it. "Please, we have to tell her -"

Sirius sat up, folding his arms as he glared down at Remus. Remus looked almost helpless, the haunted and grim look still on his face. He looked more connected than before, though something still seemed wrong. "Remus, what can we say to her or anyone else? Dumbledore was gone, Snape killed him, you went after him, Voldemort managed to get a body and kill Snape within seconds, then you escaped with an important message."

"Please -" Remus said weakly.

"No. I refuse to let you go there."

"I don't need your permission," Remus said suddenly, making to stand up. Sirius pushed him back down, keeping his hand on the other man's shoulder.

"Fine, Remus. We're going to Hogwarts tomorrow. Just, please, please don't run out again." He ran a hand along Remus' arm, feeling the other man stiffen, eyes wide as he did so. He only pulled back once he was at the thin wrist.

"Please don't touch me now," Remus muttered again, averting his eyes from Sirius.

Withdrawing from his friend, Sirius asked, "Remus, what's wrong now?"

Remus did not answer but leaned back into the pillows, closing his eyes. Sirius sighed and leaned into the pillows himself.

He did not fall asleep immediately, but instead wondered through the loopholes in everything going on.

Harry was with them. Voldemort has always wanted Harry dead. Voldemort has no body. Voldemort is capable of murder. Remus seems to get into the brunt of the action. Harry was in danger. Snape was dead. Dumbledore was dead.

They all woke later than expected, well after the sun took the sky over again. Harry slept in later than the other two, who, rather than walking outside as usual, remained inside. The sunlight filtering through the windows showed the small flecks of dust in the air.

"Morning," Remus murmured to Sirius. He looked more tired than the night before. He eyes looked strangely wary, however.

"Morning," Sirius said back. He glanced at Remus quickly. "Do you want me to make breakfast?"

"I will -" Remus said, starting to stand, but Sirius was already wrestling the food from around the kitchen, trying to get it all together on the counter.

"I've got it," he told Remus cheerfully. Remus just nodded and sat back down, watching him closely.

"Harry's still sleeping," Remus said quietly. "I think it would be the perfect time for me to go and tell Minerva."

"No." Sirius cracked an egg and let it fall into the frying pan. He used the wand to tap the pan and make the egg sizzle. "If anyone goes to tell her, I will. Harry's going to need you here."

In all truth, he only said that to stop Remus from running off again.

"You're better than I am at protecting him," Remus whispered. "You should stay to make sure nothing happens." Before Sirius could speak, Remus added, "Voldemort has to be getting stronger. It won't take much to break down the wards. We're not -"

"We're not as good as Dumbledore," Sirius finished for him once Remus paused.

Remus nodded slightly, staring at the floor again. "We're not and we all know it. The spells around the house are merely something that it'll take time to get through with the Death Eaters so that we can get out in time."

"We can try to get into Hogwarts after breakfast," Sirius told him, struggling in his cooking. Remus, eventually, gave up and decided to help Sirius with cooking. Harry slept on.

When Sirius managed to dump everything onto the plates in a rather crude manner and leave a warming charm on Harry's, they sat down. Remus, as he had done so often, picked around his plate, fork rarely coming in contact with his mouth.

"Remus, don't mope around. Snape's not worth it."

Glancing up sharply, Remus replied in a quiet voice, "We've talked about this, Sirius. I know you hate Severus, but he's still -"

"He's not even on our side!" Sirius said loudly. Remus' gaze did not waver.

"Sirius, please remember what he last said to me. It sounded as though he risked his entire life just to say that to Minerva. Just remember that before you criticize him."

"Just eat, Remus," Sirius sighed, resting his forehead on a hand and giving up. He heard the fork hit the side of the plate and the scrapping of the chair on the floor.

"I'm going to talk to her now, I think," Remus said. Sirius stood up, resting his own fork on the edge of his plate before pushing his chair in roughly.

"Stay with Harry," Sirius repeated. "I'll go."

"I know exactly what he said," Remus reminded him carefully. "We could bring Harry, you know."

"Too risky."

Remus nodded. "Fine. Come. Make sure we're back before he wakes or at least tell him we've gone.

"I'll leave a note," Sirius answered, grabbing his wand and waving it, causing parchment to appear on the table. He conjured up a quill and ink, then quickly scrawled down a note to Harry before straightening up.

Remus walked up to the fireplace, grabbing a small amount of the Floo Powder over the mantle and staring the area down. So many bad things had happened after using the Floo.

He threw the powder in and yelled out the name of the school, but felt a sharp shock in his back as he was thrown to the ground. Behind him in the fireplace was a message written in burning letters.

"'Grate Closed'," Sirius read, frowning as he helped Remus up. "Damn. Something has to be going on in there for them to close the grates."

Remus gave the fireplace an odd look as the red letters faded into the air. "I think I may just have to write her. No," he scolded himself suddenly. "Could be intercepted."

"We should try walking up again," Sirius said, leaning on the table as he thought.

Nodding, Remus threw open the door and walked outside. Christmas was still over a week away, but the hints that it was coming were not well-hidden. The stores within eyesight all sported festive lights and trees outside their snow-covered windows.

Once he felt Sirius next to him, Remus Apparated, barely hearing the crack that came a split second after his.

Remus had his gaze fixed to the castle. He was used to the constant sound from around it, but, suddenly, everything was desperately quiet.

"Silence," Sirius murmured. "See?"

Resting his hands on the gate, Remus drew them back almost a second after with a hiss. "They've obviously been putting up spells," he said quietly, examining his hands. Sirius grabbed them and saw the dark red outlines of the bars on them. Keeping Remus' hands open in his own, he glanced up at the castle again.

"Minerva!" he yelled as the top of his voice. "Please get out here!"

Nothing. Only silence.

"We're in a dead man's tomb, Remus," Sirius murmured, dropping his friend's hands. "We really are."

"I think now is when we can start panicking."

_**In case I'm questioned for why his chapter came later than usual, let me explain things. My week can be said in three ways:**_

_**1. Same shit, different day.**_

_**2. Sometimes adults lie.**_

_**3. When you look at the horizon, it looks like you could just walk forward and fall off. Maybe one of these days we'll all fall off and die and be happy.**_

_**- Dim**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry potter series of affiliates. Please don't sue me.**_

_**Author's notes: Here's my best attempt at a fast update. They're going to slow down one of these days.**_

Sitting back at the house, Remus washed his hand several times with freezing water, trying to stop the constant burning. Sirius watched him closely, finally wrapping his hand with a cloth after rubbing several salves onto it.

Harry woke up soon after. He walked into the kitchen, yawning with his eyes still unfocused.

"Sleep well, Harry?" Sirius asked as he finished with Remus' hand and stood up to grab Harry's breakfast that was still under a heating charm.

"Alright, I guess," he muttered, sitting down at the table. "What time is it?"

"Nearing ten, I think," Remus answered, smoothing the bandages and placing his hand under the table so that Harry would not ask anything. "I think we were all tired. It's alright to sleep late."

Harry shrugged. "Just surprised it's so late. What did you two do?" he asked, glancing at Sirius and giving him a strange look. Remus saw that there was still flecks of snow in his hair and nervously brushed the ones he supposed were in his own hair out.

"We were checking at Hogwarts,' Sirius answered, sitting down and handing Harry his plate. Harry started eating as he nodded. "ha something to tell Minerva."

"What was it?"

Sirius glanced at Remus, who answered, "Just a message to pass on."

Harry seemed to find that a good explanation as he did not questions them anymore.

"Is anything going on today?" he asked instead, still stabbing at the food on his plate.

"I don't think so," Sirius answered. "Everything's going to be quiet and a bit… tough for a while. We can't let you out with protection."

Harry's hand jumped to his waist, but Sirius told him, "Even we can't get much past the Death Eaters. You saw them already, you know what they can do."

Harry's brow furrowed as he thought. "Who was that man?" he asked. "the one who talked to you, Remus."

Remus felt some of the blood drain from his face. "Remember when I told you that not all werewolves are good people?" he asked.

"This better now be -" Harry started, sighing.

"That was the one who bit me," Remus cut in. "I had already said it. Everything was planned out. He was the one who did it."

"You know, Remus," Sirius started, "you never did tell us what your father did to upset that bloke."

It was Remus' turn to sigh. "He… he had been out a bit before Voldemort really started to rise. Voldemort was going after anyone he could, including werewolves, a few people knew that. My father was asked to do something… I'm not sure what, however. It was an old Death Eater who asked him to. When he refused, Greyback was offended by some comment he made while rejecting it and came after my father. He wasn't there that night," Remus remembered, thinking back to the night. It was fuzzy in his brain after years of ignoring it. "I was, and so was my mother. It was still early, of course. I was outside and…" Remus shrugged, facing the table. There was an absence of the fork on the plate and he knew that Harry was staring at him.

"Did he reject one of the Death Eaters?" Harry asked, sounding amazed and shocked.

"I'm not really sure if he did. It was over twenty years ago."

In all truth, Remus could _not_ remember a single thing from then. He knew that his parents had spoken alone with Silencing Charms around the room for hours the night before. On the night that it did happen, his father had left for the night, saying he had business at work. Remus believed it and went outside. The entire bite was still a mystery to him, though from what he knew of, he must have been unconscious for most of it. The image of his mother crying in the morning with his father there, looking both furious and terrified, still came to mind when he thought enough.

Sirius was silent for another moment. Then he said, "That's… that's why?" Remus nodded. "I thought it would be something horrible, like your father was a werewolf hunter."

Remus smiled slightly, trying to bring the conversation away from the bite. "You met him, Sirius. Did he strike you as a person who would kill his own son?"

Grinning, Sirius answered, "No, he struck me more as the kind of man who would die nine times a year." When he saw Harry's confused look, he explained, "Remus is a dreadful liar. You know that. Blamed every absence on his parents. Even someone whose parents remarried seven times couldn't have so many parents."

Stifling a laugh and trying to look serious, Remus answered, "They were good enough lies, I think."

Sirius snorted. That seemed to be his only answer.

"We're going to have to do something about Danielle," Harry said quietly. Remus and Sirius turned to face him. "We only moved her. She needs to be buried."

Remus stood up. "I'll - I'll tell her family," he murmured. "They should know. It won't be too hard to track them down."

Sirius nodded and made to stand, but Remus said, "I can do it myself. I'll be back within an hour."

The door was opened again and more chilly air blew in as Remus walked out. He closed his eyes and sucked in some of the bitterly cold air, Apparating into London, only feet from Danielle's front door.

She had obviously locked the door with a simple Muggle lock as Remus was able to undo it with a spell. He walked inside, smelling a warm scent in his lungs. Cinnamon. A candle had obviously been burning but went out as the wax completely melted.

Remus tracked his way into the bedroom where the sheets were thrown around. She had not been able to clean up, clearly. Remus briefly wondered what she had gone to say to them when she was murdered.

On the table in the room was a small, green book with a Muggle pen next to it. Remus opened the book, seeing names in it. The first ones on the list had the surname of Truman, so Remus quickly memorized the address and started to leave. Before he did, however, he blew out the second candle he saw that was near expiration.

Apparating once more, Remus landed in front of a large house in a grassy area surrounded by snow. He had never been near the place before and examined it with interest before walking up to the white door and knocking loudly.

"Better not be you again -" came a grumpy voice as the door opened. An old man, most likely in his fifties, was standing in the doorway and giving Remus a curious look. He looked nothing like Danielle with his grey hair and brown eyes.

"Hullo," the man greeted. "Could I do anything for you?"

Remus felt rather foolish, standing there with nothing to say. He did not want to say too much too early and scare the man, but he had the let the news out. "I have news about your daughter, Danielle."

"She still coming?" he asked, sounding rather sad again. "Never was good company. Talked too much."

He found his eyes traveling to the floor. "She's - she was attacked," he said in a lowered voice.

"Come in!" the man said suddenly, moving aside for Remus to walk in. The house looked old but well taken care of. The floors were gleaming as though with a fresh cleaning. "Carolyn! Carolyn, get down here!"

"Is it Danielle?" came another voice, sounding equally sad. "Oh dear, I told her that we were going to America for the -" The voice broke off as a woman walked in, seeing Remus. She looked exactly like Danielle except aged. Her brown hair was still showing only a small sign of grey and her green eyes rolled dramatically as she sighed. Remus could only guess that she was the witch of the two as she seemed to age slower. A chubby hand smacked her chest as she smiled. "Oh, good. She's dreadful company!"

"I've heard," Remus answered, not unkindly.

"He says he has news about her," the man told her. "By the way, your name is -?"

"Remus Lupin," he answered promptly.

"I'm Richard and this is Carolyn."

Remus nodded in response to him.

"Tell us the news!" Carolyn said. "Did she move away? Get sick of spending long amounts of time with us?"

Closing his eyes, Remus murmured, "She was attacked by a Death Eater."

Carolyn let out a small scream as Richard asked, "Aren't those people gone now? Carolyn, you said they were -"

"They never left," Remus explained carefully. "They're always here, they were only laying low for a while."

"How is she?" Carolyn asked cautiously.

"She died," Remus answered. He opened his eyes to see Carolyn's eyes start to redden as she cried. Richard looked numb and did not speak.

"What - what happened? Why her?" Carolyn asked, wiping her tears away frantically.

Remus sighed, not knowing where to begin. "She was helping myself and Harry Potter. Harry's been wanted by Lord Volde - You-Know-Who," he corrected with a small nod to Carolyn who shivered, "and she did all she could to help. We were in school together," he added as an explanation. "When she came to visit, we weren't there and she was attacked by a Death Eater. We - we have her body." He felt stupid saying it. "For burial, if you want."

Carolyn was crying loudly, her head resting on her tall husband's chest as he remained there, eyes wide and unmoving.

"Can - can we please have her?" he asked, clearing his throat to speak louder. "Thank you for letting us know. It was very kind of you. Could I just ask… who, exactly killed her?"

Not wanting to blame Severus fought wanting to tell the truth. "Severus Snape did," he replied.

Carolyn let out another wail before quieting enough to asked, "He's - he's the one who was in Azkaban and now's he's gone, right?"

Remus nodded as Richard let out a stream of swearwords. He patted his wife's head, eyes closed and tears dripping down his nose.

"She was never good company," Carolyn repeated, running a hand through her light hair. "I know I always said it, even in front of her. But I never wanted her to be killed!" She continued to cry into Richard's shirt, staining it a darker color with tears. "I would give anything - _anything _- to have her back -"

"We all would, Mrs. Truman," Remus told her quietly, not wanting to stay any longer. "She was a wonderful person." He twisted his hands nervously. "Should I get -"

Richard nodded, patting his wife's head once more and murmuring, "Thank you, Remus."

Remus walked outside once more, closing the door as quietly as possible before Apparating back outside his own house. The cold of winter began to freeze his fingers as he opened the door into the welcomed warmth.

Sirius and Harry stood in the room, Sirius holding a large blanket with something inside. He looked up only when Remus entered.

"My best wishes to them," he said quietly, handing the body over. Remus took it and saw that it was folded down a bit under her face so that he could see the pale freckles over the lifeless face. He nodded to the two again and Apparated, holding the bundle as tightly as possible.

Feeling a bit tired from the repeated Apparating, Remus knocked on the door again as best he could and heard another wail, a voice, and the door open. Richard stood inside and stared at Remus for a moment.

"Thank you for bringing her," he said in an oddly constricted voice. He heard out his arms for Danielle and Remus handed her over. Richard's eyes never left the girl's face.

"Carolyn's panicking about it," he sighed. "I have no clue how this is going to be. Does - does this mean You-Know-Who's back?"

"It might as well," Remus answered truthfully. He looked at Danielle for the last time. "He's only going to be strong while he has his followers."

Leaving with a few more words, Remus Apparated back for the final time to see Harry sitting moodily on the chair nearest to the fireplace. Sirius was nowhere in sight.

"He wanted to just go back to bed and not bother with today," Harry explained after Remus asked. "I want to, too. It's fun to keep busy with anything but chores like I did with the Dursleys but -"

"You just want to be able to go outside and do anything?" Remus asked. Harry nodded, sighing and holding a pillow close to his chest. "Harry, I promise you that once Voldemort's gone or just can't get to you, you can do anything you want. As long as it's legal, however." He smiled but saw that Harry did not return it.

"Harry, listen to me. You've - you've been a grown-up since you got here. Everything's been a bit hard and no one in the world can live without a childhood. We're proud of you Harry. You're wonderful and we both love you." Harry did not turn to him but remained staring into the empty fireplace. "Think of everything this way: You're special. Everyone in the world loves you for -"

"For losing my parents and having to be nearly killed every day?"

Remus shook his head, closing his eyes and letting Harry rest his head on his chest. "Everyone loves you for something you never wanted. But we love you because you're you, Harry. You've come up with so many things and you've kept yourself safe, really. It's alright to make mistakes. You can still be a kid and our savior of the Wizarding World."

Harry smiled slightly. "A savior, now? What next? A king?"

Laughing, Remus placed a hand on Harry's head, brushing his hair with his fingers. "Harry, I'm not going to tell you that your parents would be proud of you because you should already know that. Besides, I have no right to speak for them. All I'm going to tell you is that we're proud of you. Especially me."

Harry made a strange noise that sounded content. "Thanks, Remus."

After about ten minutes of sitting there in silence, Remus felt Harry's ribs push against his even slower than usual and knew that the child was asleep. Crawling out from under him without waking him proved to be hard, but Remus finally managed it and walked into the bedroom.

Sirius was sitting on the edge of the bed, a glass in one hand and a bottle resting near his foot.

"I noticed you had some Firewhiskey on you," he said in an amused voice, raising the glass in a toast to Remus. "I was thirsty and wanted to become drunk, so I took it."

"It obviously hasn't worked very well," Remus muttered, sitting down next to him. "You don't seem drunk enough to be happy."

"I am happy," Sirius laughed, grinning at Remus. Maybe he was drunk. Something had changed over the years, that was sure. At school and after, Sirius had always gotten drunk in a fashion reminiscent of Remus after being force-fed Wolfsbane Potion. "I am in a state of delirium and cannot be happier no matter what."

"I want to get drunk too," Remus sighed, tempted to grab a glass. "Except there's _a child_ in the other room."

Sirius did not seem to get the message. "If you're not drunk, that's good eno - enouth - enough." He smiled again and waved the glass. "Hey, Rems, can you pass me another one of 'em drinks?"

Remus took the bottle and held it protectively in his lap. "I think you've had enough, Sirius. If you have to poison yourself with something, do it with something useful." He took Sirius' glass and placed it upside down on the neck of the bottle he held then placed it back on the ground. "Like chocolate. Don't think I've ignored yours and Harry's stash in his room. He's covered in it every time I see him."

Sirius looked longingly at the bottle on the floor but shook his head. "Chocolate isn't the same thing as this, Rems."

"Don't call me that," Remus sighed. "Just make sure Harry doesn't see you like this or he'll think everything is falling apart."

Personally, he wished he could join Sirius and become drunk himself. However, there was still chance of anything happening. Based on what had already gone on since the beginning of the previous month, there was no end to the possibilities.

"No one sees me," Sirius sang, laughing once more. Remus quirked a smile of his own. "No one gets to see Sirius."

Pushing Sirius backwards into the sheets, Remus whispered, "Just get some sleep or something for now. It may help you get sober faster."

Sirius closed his eyes but was still talking. "I don't wanna sleep now, Rems. I'm not tired."

"You will be soon."

"Will to you come sleep me with?" Sirius asked, mind already slipping into sleep as his words slurred into fragments of sentences.

Remus looked out the window where the sun did not cast any shadows. He guessed it was around noon. "I'll sit here with you," he answered. "Just until you fall asleep. Then I'm going back with Harry."

Sirius' breathing was already starting to slow as he wrapped a hand over Remus' ear, pushing him down to the pillows. Remus let himself be led and found himself facing Sirius' face, which was unnaturally close. He could feel the hot breath on his face and found himself closing his eyes against his will.

"Hey, hey, Rems," Sirius started, eyes still closed but a wild smile on his face. "You know how ol' Snivellus started talking about something at his place?" He giggled a bit. "Maybe he wears ladies knickers and he - he stole some from Minerva!" He broke into more laughter.

Remus had thought about it hundreds of times when he could spare the thought. Snape had something at his house, he knew, and it was important to Minerva. Was it important to Dumbledore, too, then? Would he have still killed the Headmaster if it were? What could it be?

"Sirius, do you remember seeing anything strange at his house?"

Sirius shrugged. "Peter was there, yes he was." He giggles once more and tried to speak through the gales of laughter. "Maybe - maybe they both wear -"

Remus snorted just to keep Sirius from talking more about knickers. "What did you do with him?"

"I made him go sleep," Sirius answered, brow furrowing with his eyes still closed. "And he didn't wake."

"You killed him?" Remus yelped, eyes widening as he shot up into a sitting position.

Sirius shook his head. "Nope. No killing Peter. I made him go sleep for a little while."

Remus let out a breath of relief and fell back into the soft pillows. "Good, Sirius. Good."

Smiling, Sirius told him, "Nothing else different. Snivellus has bad taste, though, I can say that. House was… dark and ugly. Like my parents' house."

Not remembering what the house looked like that Sirius had spent his childhood in, Remus could not answer. He remained silent, listening to Sirius go on about snakes and the color green until his words slurred beyond recognition and he fell asleep.

_**Life better get better. I'm not going crazy or anything. Stress is just… stressing, for lack of better word. I'm not concentrating. If these chapters start lacking…. Well, I promise to check through once everything's going better. **_

_**- Dim**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**The Devil May Care**_

_**By Dimgwrthien**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series or affiliates. Please don't sue. I mean, my computer's nice, but you won't get much more than that.**_

Resorting back to his usual ways, Remus began going through the house, checking the spells around it. There was no point, he knew. All three were being as careful as possible about letting others know the address. However, nothing was going to be too safe for Harry.

Another charm was strengthened as Remus hovered around the front room, brow furrowed in concentration, making sure he did not miss a single spot. He could only imagine how hard it would be to charm all of Hogwarts if his small house was already proving to be hard.

Harry continued to sleep on the chair, not noticing Remus. Remus could only suppose he took after James in that, too. His sleeping seemed to be so deep that a blizzard could not wake him.

In fact, a blizzard _wasn't_ waking him. Whenever Remus looked outside, it looked more and more like they were being snowed in. By the time two o'clock rolled around, the windows were half covered with a white blanket. In fact, it was not so much a blanket as a comforter being thrown over the house. When Remus tried to open the door, he found it stuck within an inch of opening and no amount of pushing helped.

There was time to finish the spells later. Resting his head on the freezing glass and trying to stop the warmness spreading through his head, Remus closed his eyes and remained still.

He had to admit, he had not had much fun in a long time, but when Harry was there, it may have been stressing, but he always had something to do.

Remus sneezed before moving his forehead from the glass. When he glanced back at the clock, it said there had been a ten minute space of when he first stood there. Time seemed to move faster since Harry got there.

The boy slept on and Remus found himself getting an extra blanket from where Sirius was in the other room and throwing it over Harry before sitting by his feet, arms crossed over his chest to warm himself.

By the time Remus found himself opening his eyes again, the clock read four in the afternoon. Figuring he fell asleep, Remus stood up again, rubbing his eyes a few times. Harry seemed to still be asleep, though Remus could only guess for how much longer.

Checking up on Sirius, Remus found that he had woken up again, sitting deep into the blankets, eyes darkened and looking rather pale.

"You got over that one quickly," Remus acknowledged, taking care to lower his voice as he entered and make exaggerated movements when closing the door.

Sirius merely groaned.

"I told you drinking that much was a bad idea. I have no clue what ever possessed you to."

"I was miserable," Sirius answered, voice groggy and hoarse. "Life is hard."

"And that is why we have chocolate," Remus answered, smiling as he sat next to Sirius, picking the empty bottle from off the floor and placing it on the edge of the desk. "It cannot get you drunk, have a hangover, or anything else these drinks do."

"Shut up about the bloody chocolate or you'll find it lodged halfway up your ass," Sirius murmured, turning over and squinting his eyes as though in pain.

Remus merely shrugged. "Fine, then. If you're going to shove chocolate up my ass, you have to explain to Harry yourself why you're like this."

"I'm sorry!" Sirius muttered in mock-sorrow and horror. "Please, don't make me! I'll take the chocolate out! I promise!"

Grinning, Remus swept the long, dark locks from Sirius' pale face. He had still not cut his hair and Remus knew that Sirius would be finding it annoying. The man before him had always hated having his hair any longer than needed and no amount in prison could ever change that.

Nestling back into the protective covers of the blankets, Sirius fell asleep once more. Remus glanced at the near-empty bottle on the desk and picked it up, glancing at the amber colored liquid within. He opened the top and was about to drink some when he remembered Harry and placed the top back on.

Harry woke up soon after, yawning and stretching himself out on the couch. The first thing he noticed that was Remus was not beside him anymore. There was a moment in which Harry's brain tried to register everything, but it seemed so foggy. Instead, he leaned back into the side of the chair, breathing deeply.

There was the sound of a door shutting and Remus walked into the room, rubbing his eyes and still looking a bit tired. When he saw Harry, he smiled.

"Sleep alright?" he asked, stretching his arms out like a cat. "I know it's the afternoon, but I have a feeling our sleeping schedules are going to be messed up for a long time."

Harry grinned back. "True. We can hope Voldemort has a weird sleeping schedule."

Remus laughed. "We can hope."

In all truth, this reminded him of what Snape had said. He still tried to remember what Voldemort had looked like, but everything seemed to be blurred from that night. Sounds filtered through his mind well and he could remember the strangely cold voice, high and deadly like a snake's venom.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Remus asked, trying to distract himself from the sudden rush of sound to his ears. Even in his sleep, Voldemort seemed to still be talking.

Harry nodded as he sat up completely, shrugging the blanket off. Remus remembered Dumbledore once mentioning that Harry would share some sort of bond with Voldemort after the attack nine years before. Did the young boy before him go through the exact thing his entire life? It was hard to imagine. Harry appeared happily oblivious of most of Voldemort's power.

Remus finished pouring out the pumpkin juice from a large jug in the ice box. Harry seemed to develop a strange passion for the drink since he arrived, almost as much as his butterbeer obsession.

"What was Sirius doing last night?" Harry asked. When Remus didn't answer at once and instead choked on his drink, Harry quickly added, "If you want to tell me. It's not important to know."

"He - he wasn't feeling too well," Remus answered, smiling a bit. "Decided to… drown his worries." He hoped Harry would not understand, and by the look on his face, he did not.

"What?" he asked again, cocking an eyebrow.

"You'll understand it in a few years," Remus replied. He took a long sip of the pumpkin juice and briefly considered spiking it with whatever Firewhiskey was left.

Harry just shrugged and remained thinking about it. Then, he asked the one questions Remus had wanted to avoid. "Remus, why can't you remember anything from the other night?"

He sighed and swirled the contents of his cup around, wishing the fire whiskey were in his hand. Would he be able to pull off summoning it and pretending it was something else? No, Harry would be a bit too smart for that.

"Harry, it's - it's hard to watch someone die," he answered, not looking up into the green eyes. "It was Severus, too -"

"You hate him though, right?"

Remus bit his lip and thought before answering. "No," he answered slowly. "Severus…. He's helped me, I suppose, and we may not be friends, but… It's different, Harry. He really helped me out lately and I know that what he said is going to be worth something in the end. He's human, Harry, you have to remember that. He may not always act like it, but -" '_It's the opposite for me.'_

Harry did not answer right away. He took another sip and watched Remus carefully before saying in reply, "But if you think enough, can't you remember what Voldemort was like."

Remus wanted to rip his hair out. "I can't. It's… it's hard to even remember anything. It's… like stress, in a way."

Shrugging, Harry replied, "Isn't there a way to go back into memories? The Muggle world has things like that, I think, where you can… you can possess a person, kind of -"

Eyes widening, Remus whispered, "A pensieve."

"A what?"

"A pensieve. They can repeat memories. I saw him, and I still have the memory. Dumbledore had one -" He broke off. There would be no way to get into Hogwarts now that the security was a hundred times stronger. "I think we could send a letter to Minerva…."

"It's worth a try," Harry answered, and so Remus crept back into his room, trying not to wake up Sirius (who was sleeping like the dead, he noted) and grabbed a quill, parchment, and a small bottle of ink. He scrawled the letter out quickly, pulling out his wand and tapping the letter, sealing it. It would be easy enough for an outside person to open it, so he made sure the letter was as vague as possible while still explaining what he needed.

He sent it off with his owl, a barn owl with brown wings. He was a bit clumsy and hopped around with the letter tied to him before making the connection and flying off. Remus expected not to see him for a few more days; he always got lost when returning.

"I think it should work," Harry repeated once Remus was back in the room.

Remus nodded, murmuring, "I really hope so."

"Once we get it and see who Voldemort is, what do we do?"

"I think that would make it plenty easier to find him," Remus answered. "I'm sure that seeing it again can figure out where we were."

"You don't know where it was? How did you get there?"

"A portkey," Remus murmured, thinking back to the painful night. "It was dark and that's all I can remember. Voldemort has to know the place well; he kept plenty of his Death Eaters there that night."

"And when we track him down?"

"It's all down to killing him," Remus answered, sighing and leaning back into the soft chair, wishing he could remain there, worry-free. "I have no clue how that will go, but it'll be down to that." He already knew what Harry's expression would look like as he added, "It'll take time to get there, however. Until then, we're fine."

"What did Snape's message mean?" Harry asked.

"I don't know that, either. I think Minerva will have a clue, however. It's just a clue of searching his house for something. He said she would know." Remus bent forward, face in his hands. "I wish he had said more!" he muttered angrily. "Nothing makes sense. The only way we could get anything else out of him would be by talking to him and we can't contact the dead."

"Unless he's a ghost," Harry answered.

Remus looked up, giving Harry an odd look. "What?"

"Unless he's a ghost," the boy repeated as though it were obvious. "I've seen ghosts at Hogwarts. Wouldn't he be one?"

Remus could have kissed Harry. Instead, he grabbed the boy and hugged him, refusing to move for at least a minute. However, his face soon fell. "Wait - we would have to find his ghost." He thought back to a time at Hogwarts when he spoke to the ghosts, looking for where certain rooms where. One of them had told it to him….

"He would be at Hogwarts, I think. He loved Hogwarts."

"They don't appear where they died?" Harry asked, frowning.

"They do for a little while," Remus answered, thinking hard. "Except after that, they go to a place that meant something to them and stay there. They can travel, but they're based at that place…." Remus stood up and glanced at the hallway where Sirius was down. "Harry, you're smart and powerful enough to make your own choices. You can come to find Severus or stay with Sirius." When the boy opened his mouth, Remus added, "I really want to stay here. Wake Sirius, tell him where I am, and then stay with him. It's safer."

"I want to go with you," Harry answered stubbornly. When he saw Remus' expression, he added, "But I can stay. Alright."

"Thank you." Remus opened the door and left, feeling the bitterly cold air hit his cheeks and freeze them quickly. His eyes started to sting as he made his way through a few feet of snow. It had been hard enough to open the door, so he quickly Apparated to the gates of Hogwarts.

It still seemed chilly and cold. No noise broke between the castle and him. Touching the gate lightly, making sure to back away if it burned at his still-raw hands again, he found that he could easily grip them and swing them open. It seemed odd that there was no spell stopping him.

Closing his eyes against the wind and making a small turn as he moved forward, he found he could Apparate to the front hall of the school, inside the warm interior. Something was wrong.

No sounds came into the hall except for his own footsteps.

"Severus?" he yelled loudly enough for the next few rooms to hear. "Severus, please! Where are you?"

There was a sudden chill around his body and Remus found a ghost before him. It was pearly and transparent with slightly darkened hair compared to the rest of his body. The black robes appeared to be a light grey in the reflection of the still-lit candles around the room.

"Lupin," Severus greeted, watching him. "What the hell happened?"

Remus could have cried in happiness to hear the cold voice angry with him. "You were killed by Voldemort."

"That is apparent," he answered in a bored voice. "I imagine I would have a solid body, otherwise." When Remus did not answer, Severus continued. "Everyone left the school. The spells broke down after a while. It's been completely empty for about a week, I'd say."

"Thank Merlin I found you," Remus murmured, closing his eyes.

"Stop the acting, Lupin. You're as angry to see me as I am to see you here." He became a great deal quieter and almost kinder. "Have you managed to reach Minerva? By the time I got here, she was gone, as was everyone else. I need her to know -"

"Can't you just tell me?" Remus pleaded.

Severus gave him a long look in which Remus expected him to explode and yell, but instead, he answered in a low voice, "At my house, you'll find a locket under the floorboards near the secret doorway. You know which one. Take it and give it to Black. He should recognize it. Then I want you to destroy it."

Remus started to ask why when he saw something odd: Severus turned a light scarlet color and the ghost seemed to fade out into a light pink before disappearing completely.

It was a very rare occasion when I ghost manages to do what they stayed on the Earth for. They leave forever and move on to the afterlife once they manage to, though those fearing death can never hope for such a thing.

Remus nodded to the nothing before him and hoped Severus would find some amount of happiness in the afterlife.

It was simple enough to Apparate out of the hall into the street he became familiar with outside of Severus' house. The house remained the same as ever, as it had not ever seemed spotless from the outside before. Vines were starting to creep up the sides of the building and the door hung slightly open.

Walking inside, Remus made his way to the floorboard and stomp on it once. It appeared heavy and solid, hard to open. He pulled out his wand in a swift movement, feeling uncomfortable in the empty house. A quick charm managed to open the hole in the floor where a glint of gold showed. Remus bent down and pulled it out.

The locket contained a fine gold chain that reflected the light filtering through the dirty windows. A strange light seemed to come from the locket itself, which was heavy with an ornate _S_ printed over it like a snake.

Remus tucked it deep in his pocket and moved to turn and leave when a hand grabbed the back of his neck.

"Drop it," hissed the familiar voice, "or I'll kill you."

Remus did not move but turned a bit to see Peter Pettigrew holding his head in place. "Drop it!" he repeated, starting to sound scared.

"Hello, Peter," Remus greeted coldly. "If you don't let go of me right now, I can easily attack you. I'm the one with a wand in hand."

A thin stick pressed the back of his neck, just over the hand, and Remus found himself laughing. "Of course, Peter. Ready, aren't you?" Sweeping his arm back in a quick motion, Remus managed to aim a spell at Peter, who threw back a spell in equal time.

Remus found himself thrown forward and felt unbearable pain pulsing through his neck, but Peter had been thrown back, too. The other man was unconscious on the floor, breathing shallowly.

"Damn you," Remus hissed, fighting to his feet. He kept slipping and noticed blood around him, slippery and wet. It had to be his own. A large cut ran from his ear to his shoulder blade, though he felt no reason to examine the injury closely.

Binding Peter with another muttered spell, he dragged the still man closer to him and Apparated back, landing with gasping breaths. Blood continued to pour along his back, freezing in the cold air and he dragged open the door.

The clock read that he had only been gone for about a half hour, which surprised him. He expected he was gone much longer.

There was the sound of a gasp as Harry ran forward, eyes wide, looking scared. Remus smiled weakly at Harry and opened his mouth to say something, when Harry yelled for Sirius.

Sirius quickly ran out and, seeing Remus, grabbed his friend an examined his neck. Harry, meanwhile, was staring at the figure of Peter on the floor.

"Damn, Remus!" Sirius scolded. "Every time you leave to do something, you manage to get hurt!" A hand pressed hard on his neck and Remus felt as though he would faint. Sticky currents of red dripped into his eyes and into his slightly open mouth. It had a metallic taste over his tongue and he had to keep his mouth shut to block out the taste.

"What are we doing about him?" Harry asked, motioning to Peter.

Remus shrugged and kneeled down on the ground, still held by the soft grip of Sirius. "We can keep stunning him for a while until we can do something. Remus, Harry said something about you going off to talk to Snape - how -?"

"I got into Hogwarts," he answered, coughing a bit and noticing the fine red mist that covered the air before his face for a moment. "Sirius, it's empty. No one's there anymore. Snape's ghost -"

"Snape has a ghost? What -?"

"Let me finish," Remus snapped hoarsely, coughing up more blood again before managing to talk. "Snape had died, you know, and his ghost went to Hogwarts. I could Apparate in - the spells were all gone as was everyone. He told me what it was he had been talking about. I went to his house to get it."

Remus dug deep into his pocket, feeling the cold metal. "I found this. Then peter got me. He said you would recognize it, Sirius."

Sirius took the gold locket and examined it for a moment. His eyes seemed larger, more frightened, though it could have been a trick of the light coming off of the locket.

"Aw, _shit,_" he muttered angrily. "I _knew_ Regulus was up to something!"


	11. Chapter 11

**The Devil May Care**

**By Dimgwrthien**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series. I do own Danielle, however, and anyone you do not recognize.**_

_**Author's Notes: Sorry for the slow update. School is taking over my life and I have too much to do. Maybe only one chapter a week is a better way to look at things. It'll certainly make it all seem faster, I think. Oh, yeah.**_

Remus wiped the last of the blood from his neck, coughing slightly as he rasped, "What about Regulus?"

Sirius' face remained set as he stared at the locket in his hands. His mouth hung open before he realized Remus spoke to him. "He - I remember him having this at some point. I think it was when I last saw him and he was wearing it. I asked him about it -" Sirius fell into the nearest chair, eyes still wide. "This is it…. Why did he have it? Did Snape tell you?"

"All he said was that you would know what it is. He said to destroy it, then." Remus' hand wiped along his mouth, showing a line of blood dripping from his lips.

Harry watched the entire conversation with something bordering on interest. His brows furrowed as they delved deeper into the unknown waters of the past.

"Should we trust that? I mean, he did kill Dumbledore -" Sirius began. Remus' look chilled him as his friend gave him an angry stare. "Remus, just think about it -"

"You're the one who needs to think about it. He told us where it is. We need to destroy it, or else -"

"Or else what? What, Remus, could happen from not destroying it?" Sirius placed the locket down on the wooden table and another light reflected around it.

"You don't know what it's going to do."

"My Death Eater brother had it last," Sirius snorted. "The mention of Death Eater should clue you into his stupidity. It's only something someone gave him -"

"I knew Regulus well enough," Remus answered quietly. "He was too into his parents' opinion, not stupid. He would not take something that would endanger all of us. I say we trust Severus on this."

Before Sirius could answer, Harry told Remus, "It doesn't look dangerous. Why not keep it around for a while and then see if it does anything. We can decide what to do after that. It can't hurt."

"Yes, it can. Harry, if this is something Voldemort wants, for example, he will not stop following us until he gets it, and that's risking your own life."

"I'm safe enough," he answered, frowning. "I'm with you two."

Remus bit back a reply and simple shook his head. "Harry, we care too much about you to -"

"I'm safe here," Harry repeated quietly.

"Back on the topic," Sirius interrupted as Harry turned away from Remus, "I know that Regulus only got this a while before he died. It's not too old, really. Where did he get it, though?"

"He was a Death Eater when he got it?" Remus asked, trying to wrap his mind around what happened.

"I think so," Sirius answered. "I know that he took a while to die, too. Is Snape trying to imply something about him getting it from Voldemort? I can't see him handing out necklaces to all of his Death Eaters."

"I don't think Snape was implying that," Remus answered. "I think he was only implying that it's relating to Voldemort. Why would Voldemort have a locket, though?"

"It has a snake on it," Harry murmured, staring at the golden item before them.

Sirius craned his neck to see the winding snake creating the letter 'S'. "It does…. S… for Slytherin?"

"S is for Slytherin," Remus agreed, finding it hard to rip his gaze from the locket. "I think so…. Voldemort was a Slytherin, wasn't he?"

"Are they related?" Harry asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe they are. If we could find anything else… Remus, where did Snape tell you to get this?"

"His house," Remus answered quickly. "It's easy to get to if you want to look -"

Glancing at Harry, Sirius answered, "It'll be safe to just get there and back to look for something else. I think we can chance it for a while."

Remus grabbed his fallen cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders as Harry and Sirius did the same. They ventured outside into the snowy wind, eyes stinging once more in the frigid cold. Harry gripped Sirius' hand tightly and held on as they Apparated there.

The house remained as untouched as before. Remus pulled open the door, lighting his wand and entering first. The only difference from when he entered before was the pile of floorboards that had been ripped up. Sirius made his way straight there, Remus holding the wand over him so that they could see.

Reaching inside the hole in the floor, Sirius pulled out some more wood, still glancing inside. Harry sat a bit away, giving him a curious look.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I have no clue," Sirius answered, pulling out a handful of dirt this time. He stared at the dirt in his fist and turned to Remus.

"That's not the same as outside," Remus answered slowly. "This is too red to be it -"

Taking out another handful, Sirius searched through the dirt, repeating the process until his hand froze over the small pile. He pulled out a small scrap of parchment and unfolded it carefully. The yellowed paper looked so old that it almost crumbled in Sirius' hands.

_S. S. -_

_I know that you already know what this locket means. It means both death for myself and the Dark Lord. I am asking you to keep it, as a friend, so that it can be destroyed as soon as possible. I am positive the Dark Lord is going to find out I took it soon._

_I am only asking for you to keep it safe. Please do not destroy it until you have told my brother. I don't want him to think I died without any sort of purpose in this._

_R. A. B._

Sirius' eyes remained wide well after he finished reading. He handed the letter silently to Remus, who paled once he read it.

"He… he did it, didn't he?" Remus asked quietly.

Shrugging, Sirius remained staring at the old parchment. "It sounds like… it sounds like Voldemort put himself into this."

"We've heard about Horcruxes," Remus whispered. Harry frowned as he tried to understand what they said. "I'm so lost as to what he really did."

"We at least know Regulus did something right for once." Sirius folded the letter and placed it in his pocket. "Should we look around more?"

Remus ran a hand through the small amount of remaining dirt under the floorboard and brought it back up, another slip of paper in his hands. This one looked much larger than the other, as though from a book. One edge was frayed. Unfolding it, Remus read it aloud.

"_Horcruxes are an unspoken of art that contains the splitting of a human soul and distributing one half to an item or creature. This enables the soul-breaker to become 'immortal' for as long as one part of the soul remains. To destroy the person, all parts of the soul must be destroyed._

"_The art was discovered by Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Legend is to be taken as his attempt to gain immortality to outlive the other founders to purify the school. He killed his entire family, including his mother, father, and wife. Only his son remained living as he was able to create one Horcrux from the murders._

"The rest is ripped off," Remus finished, holding the paper numbly under the wand light. "I wonder where he could have gotten this from. Like it says, no one speaks of Horcruxes anymore, and no one uses them."

"Looks like Voldemort did, though," Sirius mumbled. He took the slip of paper from his pocket again and folded it in his hands until one side started ripping along a crease. "We have to destroy it then? How?"

"Exactly what I was wondering," Remus muttered, leaning against a wall, still reading the paper over and over again.

"Can't you use a spell to - to blow it up or something?" Harry asked. "It's not too hard to do, right?"

"The problem is the risk that's taking," Remus answered. "We could end up missing limbs or dead from trying anything before we know."

"It's a risk worth taking," Harry replied defiantly, starting to stand up. "If we have to kill Voldemort, then we can risk it, right?"

"No," Sirius snapped. "We're not going to -"

"I'll try," Remus whispered, dragging the locket from his pocket. "It's not too much of a loss to us. We're destroying part of Voldemort, only at a small risk -"

Sirius eyed him warily. "No, Remus. We're not trying. I refuse to let you get hurt like that just to get rid of half of Voldemort. It's not going to help."

"It will in the long-run."

Remus had already placed the locket down, away from Harry and Sirius. Wand pointed at the locket, he murmured a spell under his breath, waiting for the resulting explosion. When it did not come, Remus moved closer to the golden item.

"Maybe it needs a certain spell," Harry told him, also moving in. Remus continued to wave his wand, muttering different spells under his breath.

"Get the paper out again. Maybe it has something in it." Sirius motioned to Remus, who pulled the sheet of paper from a pocket and unfolded it again.

"Nothing we didn't read already," he answered after scanning it over again. "It looks like someone cut off the bottom, though. If could just be that the entry was only a half page -"

"Pettigrew," Sirius muttered, standing up and pulling both Harry and Remus with him. Harry gave him a curious look before Sirius answered, "He ripped it off, I know it. He saw the note and noticed what it was, but didn't want Snape to kill Voldemort."

It took only a minute to reach the house again, Sirius fuming as he stormed in and found Pettigrew's unconscious body on the floor again. Pulling out his wand, he muttered a spell, breathing heavily.

Light blue eyes opened and blinked up at him as Peter woke up. His gaze never wavered, though his eyes did widen.

"Sirius -" he started, but Sirius' long fingers wound their was around his throat.

"Did you rip up any part of a paper?" he growled.

Eyes betraying his answer, Peter shook his head. Sirius' grip tightened almost to the point of asphyxiating Peter. Finally, the man forced a nod, hitting Sirius' fist with his jaw. Throwing him back as he let go, Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it at Peter's heart.

"Sirius!" Remus scolded, stepping forward. "If you kill him now, you're not getting anything else out of him!"

Sirius glanced at his friend for a moment, almost laughing at the words. Since he met Remus, the man had been kind and caring for ever, yet grim in his aspect of life. He knew that Remus was aching to join him and to kill Peter, but only stopped him because of Harry. His gaze fixed on the young boy whose green eyes were fixed on Peter with an angry glare.

Finally, Sirius let his wand drop. Remus shook his sleeves back and raised his own wand. "We're keeping you alive - for now, at least," Remus told Peter, voice carefully steady. "Not because it's what friends would do, but because it's going to help us. We aren't going to promise you anything except, possibly, Azkaban. You couldn't ask for anything better, could you, Peter?"

Before the man could answer, Remus' wand flicked and he fell unconscious once more. He turned back, giving Sirius a grim look as he placed the heavy locket onto the table.

"It was ripped," he summarized lamely, sighing. "Which means it's lost and we're unable to get it now that Severus is gone -"

Sirius bashed his hand into the table once, letting out a short growling noise. Harry picked up the locket that Remus had left out. In his hands, it felt heavier than he imagined the gold to be, as though an extra weight settled on it. It was certainly brighter once in his hands than he had ever seen it, and the chain left like soft sand against his hands, barely grainy. In all truth, he found the locket to be beautiful with the golden snake winding across the surface.

"Wouldn't someone else know?" Harry asked. "I mean, wouldn't Voldemort have to learn about this from someone else? You said that the things are mainly banned, so most books wouldn't say a thing in them." He shrugged, feeling the chair slid around his fingers as he moved. "Someone has to know how to destroy it."

Remus glanced at Sirius, who frowned in return. "Who would he have known?"

"Hundreds of people," Remus answered lightly. "Voldemort would have met a hundred people in his life, half of which could be dead, and the rest refusing to ever speak of it again. Imagine revealing the fact that you told Voldemort how to become immortal. You would be an outcast."

Harry held half the locket in each hand, tugging it sharply, but it did not break. Digging his fingernails into the groove along the middle, he tried to force the sides to fall open, but they did not. "Sirius," he said, raising his voice slightly. "Can you open this?"

Sirius gave him an odd look as though forgetting his was there, and took the locket, tugging the sides. When they did not open, he raised his wand, waving it several times before turning to Remus. "It can't open. Does that mean anything?"

Remus' brow furrowed. "Maybe opening it would count as breaking it." He took the locket, inserting the very tip of his wand into the groove, muttering more spells under he stopped. "It wouldn't be this hard to open unless there was a good reason to keep it closed."

"No one wants Voldemort soul in their house," Sirius muttered. "Here, let me try again -" He repeated what Remus did, but to no avail.

Harry reached out a hand to take the locket again, holding it in one hand as he reached for his wand with the other. Inserting his wand inside the groove like the two adults did, Harry moved his wand slightly, not even using a spell when it fell open.

Remus watched him in amazement. "Harry, how did you -?"

Shrugging, Harry pulled the sides open to their fullest extend, pulling out a small slip of parchment and unfolding it slowly.

_Concido._

The scrawled note read very clearly on the otherwise clear parchment. Harry passed it up to Remus silently as Remus took the locket in his hands, laying it on the table. Sirius' eyes widened.

"_Concido_," he murmured, waving his wand once. The air around the locket glowed blue for a moment as though splitting the molecules in the air, but then they quickly became clear again as the locket shattered into a hundred pieces. Remus fell against the nearest chair, wincing as he hit the back of it.

Grabbing Remus' arm, Sirius got him back onto his feet. "Are you alright?" he asked a second after, examining his friend quickly.

"Just hit the chair," Remus answered, slightly. "I didn't think it would have that much of a blow." He winced again as he rubbed his shoulder.

Harry stared at the remains of the locket, reaching a hand out towards them, but Sirius grabbed him by the wrist.

"I don't think we should touch them directly," he told Harry, almost glaring at the pieces. "They could have an effect afterwards."

"I'll get it," Remus sighed, giving Sirius a side-ways look. "Honestly, you're becoming paranoid. Why you aren't an Auror beats me."

He tried to pick up the pieces but drew away quickly, holding his hand cradled to his chest, eyes wide as he stared at them.

"What?" Sirius asked quickly, still holding Harry back.

"They burn," Remus answered simply; when he held out his hand, Harry could see it redden before his very eyes. "I think we should leave them." He turned to Harry, still holding his limp arm in the other. "Harry, how did you open it?"

"I just put my wand in it." When Sirius and Remus continued to give him blank looks, Harry continued. "Remember when we got my wand and Mr. Ollivander said my wand was connected to Voldemort's? Well, maybe only someone who had something similar to him could open it. I just thought that and tried, then it opened."

Sirius settled into a chair, elbows on the table, eyes staring at the smoldering pieces. Then, he began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Remus asked, sitting down next to him, pressing on his arm as though to stop the pain.

Laughter dying down enough to speak, Sirius answered, "We did it! We destroyed part of Voldemort's soul!"

"That's great, but it's not funny," Harry told him, smiling.

"We're the people he hates most, and we did more than he expected," Sirius answered. "A traitor pureblood, a half-blooded… well, you, Remus… and the Boy Who Lived."

"The Boy Who Was Loved," Remus added, grinning slightly. Harry's cheeks reddened as Sirius wrapped him up in a hug.

"And your brother," Remus added. Sirius froze.

"Regulus did it all, too." He smiled. "Maybe he wasn't as stupid as I thought."

"And I believe you owe Severus an apology," Remus whispered.

Sirius nodded, still holding Harry tight. "I think that could wait until I'm dead, though," he answered. "I think I could make it up to him when this is all over."

"It's just half a monster left."

_**The End.**_

_**Hm. What an odd ending. I thought this would be longer, except I couldn't drag out more. That was sudden and surprised me too. I looked at my notes of things to happen, and I saw that every happened, so I crossed off the end on there and ended the story. Only half a monster left, as they said it.**_

_**I really hope you all enjoyed that. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Writing fan fiction gives me some sort of happiness. You all spoil me with lovely reviews. Hugs, cookies, and glomps to everyone who even opened the story up, said, "I didn't mean to click this!" and read the first sentence before leaving. It means the world to me.**_

_**Thanks.**_

_**- Dim**_


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